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Attended the opening of Rivertown this morning and so I can directly compare Movieworld's and Dreamworlds. Dreamworld opened the doors to the park about 9:55am (and had a small contingent of VIPs and Theme Park enthusiasts in at 9:30am) and then had up to Rivertown gated off. At 10:05am we were then escorted down to outside the Jungle Rush coaster and there was about 15/20 mins of speeches and then the ride was ready to go. From the beginning the rides were open, stayed up for most of the day (Jungle Rush had a few periods of short down time) and the experience was really enjoyable. There were plenty of staff rostered on, the area looks amazing and well themed (and i am sure there is more to come, but it looks pretty much finished) and the radio was there giving out prizes. It felt like a true 'opening'. I really like that Greg acknowledges theme park enthusiasts in his speeches and is so connected to the community needs. It's a much more humble approach to theme park management. His offsider Michelle (I believe she is Ops manager) spent the morning in the control booth of JR then went and helped serve at the Rivertown Restaurant, it is not uncommon to see Greg helping in these back of house areas, it shows that even the exec team will jump on board and help out - it's a really good look. This is in direct contrast to Bikash who was quick to scoop into the VIP fast pass queue at 10:05am for the WoZ rides. Dreamworld was alive today and it's great to see the hard work they are putting in paying off.

King Claw went out for tender today. Images from public tender.

It’s these ridiculous comments that are nonsensical. DW has the biggest range of rides, and more importantly - operational rides - of any theme park on the GC. If they are a half day park; then the others are 1/4 days being dragged out to full days by intentionally poor operations.

I haven't seen this before. More information here: https://earthstory.com.au/portfolio-dreamworld-jungle-rush.html

Hi, clickbait YouTuber in question here. I don't normally respond to much on this forum, as I find it gets a little heated a lot of the time - as you correctly pointed out, I prefer to block that sort of thing out and allow commenters to enjoy their own echo chamber, since my channel is a hobby and I do it for happiness and a creative outlet, and I often find people tend to go for the jugular which leaves me feeling defeated and demotivated. I'm a roller coaster channel, not a platform for free speech, and I'm not obligated to give anyone's insults, or even rudely-phrased criticisms, any oxygen. But you've successfully baited me with this statement. I thank everyone for their feedback on my content. I genuinely enjoy taking on board feedback from those who do like my videos and those who don't. I appreciate that there are plenty of people who will disagree very strongly with my opinions on the current state of Movie World, or the way I approach video essays, or the way I run my channel in general. I've enjoyed reading your own takes on Movie World's current situation, and I actually agree with some of you. You've made some interesting points. I see no ill-intent in any of your feedback, and while I stand by my statements and my approach towards criticizing Movie World after my latest visit, I respect you all for voicing your own thoughts on it. I'm not sure when my next Movie World-related video will be, but I have genuine hopes that it will be a more positive one, and I hope some of you may even give the channel a second chance and enjoy it This statement right here, though, is why some commenters in particular are removed from my comments sections. This is not the first time that particular people have crossed the line from criticizing my content into drawing my personal issues into it and insulting me, and failing to see how there's a difference. Yes, I came home from my initial attempt at Coaster Odyssey due to health issues. I have a chronic illness. I spoke candidly on my channel about how it left me in hospital on the other side of the world, which was a terrifying experience, and also led me down a very dark path in terms of my mental health. I openly discussed how I spiraled into a depression badly during that time. I worked my backside off in casual jobs to save to start that journey, and I was still working casual jobs overseas to keep the journey a reality. Even putting YouTube aside, it was a dream of mine for a long time to travel and work long-term, and to pursue theme parks around the world. It hurt to have to come to the decision that I needed to go home so soon. And I've since been working my butt off yet again to make sure I'm recovering, getting the medical help I need, and will be continuing the series in July. I appreciate and respect that you have your objections to my content, and that's fine. But belittling my health issues and mockingly saying that I had my "tail between my legs" during what was objectively one of the most rattling, scary, painful and gut-wrenching experiences of my life is a stretch too far. Again, I was in a hospital, on the other side of the world from everyone I know and love, in a significant amount of pain, unsure what my insurance would cover and if I could even afford the healthcare, let alone the flight home that I eventually painfully realized I needed to book. And once I did get those airfares paid, I spent every night lying awake, still in pain, feeling like everything I'd worked so hard for over the past 2 years had gone up in smoke. I am so, so lucky that I have a wonderful support network because frankly, that trip was my reason to get out of bed a lot of days. So thanks for your input Jobe, but kindly leave my health issues out of your criticisms, please and thank you. We all have our struggles to cope with and I'd appreciate it if you could have the decency to separate your critiques of the content I create as a hobby from direct attacks on my health and suggestions that I'm cowardly for being forced to make decisions for my own health. Cheers mate.

Not sure where else to post this, but as a boss, Greg is incredible. What he has been able to do to turn Dreamworld around is brilliant. The car park is full, and the park has an energy again. I am here today, and he is making drinks at Jane's Restaurant. I told him he was and inspiration to his staff, and his response was 'when we are busy, you help out.' I would love to have him as a mentor.

So time to share my impressions Munchkinland/Forecourt the entrance photo op statues look great. Little close to the brake run for SE imo, but I get they working with limited space so will ignore it. The walkway down to the forecourt is great, the rainbow effect is great and the transitional music change is really good. The theming in the forecourt is great, and in the 50mins we were there there was photo op with Wicked Witch, a Dorothy performance, and a photo op with Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion. All great, however I’d like to see how regular this becomes or even if it still exists in off peak Emerald City Lighting and design is decent. They’ll want to keep those wall projections functional (unlike other projections in the park) or it will be bland and boring. The wizard projection is quite good, though would have been fantastic to have it have more random or lengthy dialogue sets as it does get a little tedious being so short and just on repeat. Flight of the Wicked Witch The internal queue is fantastic with the room of Poppies and then the enchanted forest. You feel immersed in the story, and even my son said “wow this is like a Japan-level queue” and then boom - you walk downstairs and you are in an outdoor cattle run with no shade, and ridiculous slow ops and burning to a crisp in the sun. I can’t overstate how much the experience is wrecked by this. The immersion is gone and you just want to get it over with. You enter the castle for the final part of the queue which does look good, but it’s not air conned so there is no respite from the baking you’ve just had. They only let 1-2 groups into the castle at the time. The ops just seem entirely haphazard. The 2 cycles where I could visually see what was happening has 4-5min waits between guest disembarking and next guests being let onto the platform simply because the sorter is also the harness checker and they didn’t start sorting until the previous ride disembarked. The entrance to the ride gates is in such a close proximity to the entrance, they have to fill gates 4/5 which are directly in front of the entrance last as you wouldn’t get people past them otherwise. the ride itself is punchy and smooth, and a much better experience than similar coasters I have been on, so gets a big tick on that. There is a short jolty break mid final turn prior to the full break run which is a little strange in terms of forces, and the ride photo for mine is far too late in the ride, but aside from that no complaints. Kansas Twisters I could probably copy the same as the previous tbh.. the starting internal queue is great, immersive and fun. Then you are outside. In the sun. The grouper, who is deciding whether you get in the yellow or the orange train queue, had absolutely no concept of counting. We were told to join the orange train queue, which is on the opposite side of the station so you have to head up and over the track inside the barn. After a couple of cycle, it was blatantly apparent he couldn’t count as we were probably 3-4 cycles from getting on the orange train, and there was only 6 people waiting for the yellow. Cue us excusing ourselves back past another 10 plus people and jumping the rail to join the yellow train queue. Did I mention it was hot? And the barn had no air con or fans? Who designed this place? the ride itself is fun on the forwards cycle, but to be honest I found the return journey just too slow to really consider re-riding again. You walk off to look at chain link fencing and the 30 year old back of house offices. We’re not in Kansas anymore Toto… i also didn’t mention that there was no announcements over the speakers on either ride, no “enjoy the ride” or “you’re about to take flight on blah blah”. The only thing said by staff was yelling “don’t touch the seatbelt, we will do it up. Don’t touch the seat belt” on FOTWW. overall if they spent $100m they need their better people making the financial decisions for the park. Whilst it’s clear nothing is going to change short term, they need to drop some money into this thing before next summer to at a minimum have some shade sails over the queue line, and put some air con or fans into the internal queues. Then they need to sort out their ops. promises so much, but just misses the high mark it set for itself unfortunately. It’s not a fail by any stretch, but if it’s a 2 horse race between Oz and Rivertown - DW has is won by the length of the straight

Picoplay also recently uploaded a new video, that features some previously shown Jungle Rush theming - as well as some interesting tidbits if you zoom in on the right frame Above is the layout for Jungle Rush's indoor queue!

Bats have just been added to the ceiling for this section!

This thread has been pretty quiet, while over the highway the Rivertown\Jungle Rush threads continue with updates. I haven't been to WOZ myself, and I've no great urge to rush out and do so just yet, but from what i've heard and seen online, the sentiments towards the land are that it was a miss. I watched this last night and the channel has been pretty on the mark with other topics covered. Call it confirmation bias if you like, but a lot of what is covered in this video sounds about what I expected. this video is a big oof.

Dreamworld have definitely put much more love and care into the whole land than MW with Wizard of Oz - every part just looks spectacular. The details placed within each part look fantastic, even a non E-ticket like this looks amazing, and will only get better thanks to weathering and the growing greenery. Good job to Greg Yong and his team for making Rivertown so great, I can't wait to see what is next. Hopefully some enhancements are made eventually, such as retheming Motocoaster into the land and redoing the store's facade to match.

Jungle Rush soft opened again this afternoon, and I got another ride on it! They've actually added a lot in the few days! There's even more theming and audio in the queue and station, and they've added more theming to the turntable room. It's also a lot darker now too, which was a big complaint I had the other day. Also did Murrissippi Motors, which was a lot of fun.

LOL, Wash your mouth out! I've done the Beast, I've done the Zamperla Giga Discovery, I've done the Intamin and the Intamin one is in an entirely different league. See, the issue with these types of rides from cheaper manufacturers like Zamplera and KMG is that they put underpowered motors in the swing, so a great deal of the ride cycle is spent simply getting to full height. On the KMG it takes 1:30. The Giga Discovery takes close to 2:00 But the Intamin? 45 seconds. Its like being strapped to a rocket at the start. Intamin know where to push it when it comes to intensity. and then at the top of each swing, the motors are actively pushing back in reverse, and forcing you downwards, so you get enhanced airtime in the same way Batwing drops down "faster than gravity". More of the time is spent on the fun part...swinging beyond vertical, and less on the crap part....low speed nauseating swings. And the rotation speed is perfect. Its not pretending to be an eggbeater like the Beast. And there are no OTSRs. Cant wait to have one down the road.

You must be fun at parties.

The whole area looks so different now, track everywhere! Looks great!

Theming is being added to the temple structure. Looks like it's interior theming for the indoor scene Reverse view Also more track!

@Gazza I am responsible for this, I was wondering if someone on here would notice 😂. We installed some long throw speakers at the front of the park and needed some impactful music, there’s plenty of European theme park tracks in there 👌

Oh a Parkz comment hasn’t made me giggle like this in a long time 😂 Here’s confirmation DW read Parkz comments… taken directly from my own comment

You should go check out Rivertown

Some more photos… (spoilers ahead) Flight of the Wicked Witch queue: As you can see, the first section of the queue is very well themed. Unfortunately though, all of the immersion disappears as soon as you walk through the haunted forest and are presented with a bland hallway and a direct view of the studio’s BOH areas. The rest of the area is nicely presented, but definitely not “immersive” as the BOH areas are visible at pretty much all times and no effort has been made to block them out (or at least make them less noticeable). One thing to note is that there is a lot of permanent lighting all through the land, so I’m betting it should look pretty spectacular at night (though I do wish some of the lighting fixtures were more “themed” into the land. Modern suburban street lights do not belong in OZ). Kansas Twister queue: At one point in the queue, you walk through Dorothy’s house. There are a number of effects (such as video screens in the windows showing debris flying past and lights that swing back and forth from the ceiling) that help support the idea that the twister is approaching. You then make your way out to the barn and the ride itself. Overall, I think the rides themselves are good additions to the park and definitely help boost the park’s family attraction lineup. However, the OZ precinct is far from the immersive experience that was promised. Though it’s very nicely presented and there are elements that are quite well done, the overall product sadly feels a little cheap and tacky IMHO.

Rivertown has soft opened. Not sure if the rides are yet available to guests, but you can walk under the archway and the store is open

It is amazing to have true competition back between the parks. However, in my non-expert opinion of someone who hasn't step foot in either new land, Dreamworld takes the prize for the best themed land.

Claw is end of life. King Claw will be 50% faster and 50% higher than Claw - will be the tallest in the southern hemisphere 42 metres high, will reach 100km/h. -0.5g and +4.5g Construction starting in February, open by end of 2025. Full collection here

Stopped by after work and had to sit at the roundabout for 25 minutes just to leave, but here's a photo where you can see both in one, hard to get a decent angle of both at once though

Is this the part where we are meant to accept that all these ride closure's are ok and if we argue with you then to start saying we are Village haters. its bs MW is a shit hole at the moment and your off your head if you think its acceptable to run a theme park in its current state.

I’ve just spent almost three weeks exploring Japan and along the way visited several theme parks. Two of which we had already planned to visit and two others that we ended up visiting in the moment. This includes Tokyo DisneySea, Universal Studios Japan, Fuji-Q Highland and Suzuka Circuit Motopia. I first visited Japan 9 years ago and at the time only visited Universal Studios Japan; you can read that trip report here: Tokyo DisneySea This was the first park of the trip and my third ever Disney park (Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney Studio Park being the other two). We didn’t have enough time to visit both Disney parks on this trip, so opted for DisneySea because of how highly everyone talks about this park (and for Fantasy Springs). We arrived at the park at 8:30, with the park set to open at 9. We’d heard that the process to get in was pretty quick even when the lines are long as the staff are efficient… this was not the case. We didn’t get into the park until almost 10 (not a complaint, just something to note for anyone planning to visit). Once we were through the gate, I immediately jumped into the app and started trying to book passes to jump the queues for as many rides as possible. The first impression enter the park under the hotel is one of the most mind blowing first sights I’ve ever had walking into a theme park. It is so beautiful, so detailed and it makes me want to see it all at once. We began exploring the park in a clockwise direction towards Port Discovery. Walking to this land, it honestly didn’t feel like you were in a theme park, everything looks so well considered, amazing sight lines, detailing, atmosphere, it’s all just incredible. Our first ride was Nemo & Friends Searider. I didn’t really know what this ride was, but my wife is a massive Finding Nemo fan. The ride was essentially a 3D simulator ride and made you believe you were shrunk down to the size of a fish and go on a journey with the characters. A well executed ride, but nothing out of this world. We then ventured to Mysterious Island to ride our first free past pass ride, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. To access this ride you have to enter into the centre of the volcano, which alone is absolutely insane, but then you work your way down towards the water and under the volcano. The ride itself was really impressive and give you the impression you are actually underwater and see all of these underwater creatures, very immersive and enjoyable ride. We then had our first paid fast pass ride, Toy Story Mania. This was only our second ever shooting dark ride (Justice League being the first) and my god this was so much more enjoyable. All of the mini games were very fun, the queue and station theming were great and the shooting system (while tiring by the end of the ride) was easy to use. From here we had to make the very long journey to the back of the park as we had our first fast pass (This was the fast pass we were able to secure as soon as we entered the park) in Fantasy Springs, Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival. Fantasy Springs was by far the area of the park I was most looking forward to and I had stayed spoiler free for the most part. The first impressions as you enter into the land is mind blowing, it’s just beautiful. It really does feel like a fantasy. The music starts to change, the landscape changes and you become fully immersed into what they’ve created. When your within the land you can’t see anything else but the land you are in. We headed to the right into Rapunzel’s Forest. The queue for the ride was really well executed and the loading procedures were so fast, organised and effective. The ride itself is a boat ride that doesn’t have any drops or lift hills and takes you on a very shortened version of the Tangled movie. The animatronics and execution of the scenes were unlike I’ve ever seen in person, it actually creates emotions. And that final lantern scene was beautiful and made me feel like nothing else in the world mattered in that moment. Sadly the major downside to this ride is it feels like it’s over before it’s begun, it’s way too short and should’ve been at least double the ride time, but it is still absolutely worth riding and paying for a priority pass. As it was nearing lunch time, we decided to stay in Fantasy Springs and eat at the Royal Banquet of Arendalle. The menu wasn’t massive, but its offerings were very enjoyable. To enter this sit down quick service restaurant you had to do a mobile order and show the order at the entrance when it was ready. Then once you’re inside it tells you what counter to collect your order from and that’s it! It was a very simple and fast process and didn’t require any waiting. The dining area had a massive amount of tables, so there was no issue finding somewhere to sit, and it was a really pleasant space to sit and relax amongst the craziness of a Disney theme park day. I’d highly recommend anyone visiting this park to visit this restaurant for lunch and a place to relax. After lunch our ride was Journey to the Centre of the Earth. This was the ride I was most looking forward to, but with a 4.5hr standby wait time, my only hope to ride it was with a fast pass (thankfully I managed to secure one while we were sat down for lunch). This ride is set within the volcano and takes out on a journey deep into the centre of volcano exploring what lives within. I had stayed relatively spoiler free for this ride, but knew it had a similar ride system to Radiator Springs or Test Track and there was a massive animatronic. Before we had even boarded the ride, the queue line was mind blowing. It has so much detail, effects and the use of an elevator to give the impression you are dropping deep into the volcano. The ride itself was incredible and ended up being my favourite ride in the park. It wasn’t necessarily overly thrilling, but the suspense, animatronics, darkness and use of smoke and fire made the experience unlike anything I’d ever been on. And that last massive animatronic before you are launched out of the volcano was incredible. This ride has to be a must do for anyone visiting this park because it will blow you away. When then explored the ‘Mermaid Lagoon’ and ‘Lost River Delta’ lands and like the rest of the park was really impressed with the level of theming and the rides on offer. Mermaid Lagoon is the only dedicated kids ride land in the park and offers a great variety of flat rides. I was really hoping to ride Indiana Jones, but with a 3 hour wait, the single rider line closed and being unsuccessful in getting a fast pass, sadly we had to miss out on this. We then ventured into the Arabian Coast to ride Sinbad’s Storybook Voyage. This ride had the shortest wait time in the park at only 15 minutes. I had heard this ride was an enjoyable boat ride and generally always has a short queue and after riding it, I don’t know why because it is really really good. It’s a gentle boat ride filled with hundreds of animatronics, music and effects and is probably the longest boat ride in the park. It’s just a classic and fun ride. After this we headed back into Fantasy Springs because how could we not! We wanted to explore even more of the land while we tried to get priority passes for the other rides. This land really feels like its own seperate park and you could honestly just spend the entire day in here exploring every corner and detail. We were lucky to get a fast pass for Anna & Elsa’s Frozen Journey and it was for in 15 minutes after purchasing. And wow what a ride this was. The story telling, detail, effects and animatronics were unlike anything else. This ride was fantastic and was easily my second favourite of the day. And the length of the ride really allowed you to get fully immersed into the story, which is what Rapunzel’s ride unfortunately lacked. Unfortunately that would be the last ride of the day as the weather had dramatically changed and was now very very windy and cold. We originally wanted to stay for the nighttime shows, but these were cancelled due to the weather. Generally speaking, we did eat at many different food outlets and stalls throughout the park to try different things, but the only place we dined was within Frozen. And for merchandise, we didn’t actually buy anything because there wasn’t actually anything within any of the stores that was of interest. The merchandise we found to be very much targeted to the Japanese market (for obvious reasons), so there wasn’t even a magnet or tshirt that appealed to us. Overall, what a fantastic day and easily my new favourite theme park. However, while using the app and booking passes is a simple process, it’s does make the day pretty stressful, especially when you’re trying to make sure you get on everything you want. Any opportunity I had I would be in the app refreshing it to try and buy or secure passes for various rides because most attraction waits were between 1 and 4 hours. Throughout the day I was trying to get a Standby Pass for the Fantasy Springs rides, but had no luck, which is why we had to buy the Priority Passes to be able to ride them. From the start of April you no longer require a Standby Pass for Fantasy Springs attractions, but that means the queues are now up to 5 hours for the majority of the day. Fuji-Q Highland I’ll be upfront about our visit to this park, it wasn’t originally on our list of places to visit due to time constraints. However, we do manage to spend about 1.5 hours wondering around the park for reasons I’ll explain shortly. We hired a car for the day from Tokyo so we could go and explore the northern areas of Mount Fuji. To get her via train can take over 4 hours, but driving was only 1.5 hours. I highly recommend to anyone who wants to see and explore Mount Fuji, but doesn’t necessarily want to stay a night out there. As we arrived in the area, we actually drove directly past Fuji-Q and the views you get of the park and awesome. Getting to see these coasters in person made me realise why people make the trek to visit this park. We explored the Lake Kawaguchi region in the morning and because we had some spare time over lunch we decided to stop in the Fuji-Q before heading to the Chureito Pagoda. Part of our reason to justify visiting the park for only a couple hours was because it is actually free to enter to park. The park has a pay per ride system, or a ride all day option that basically makes it like visiting a normal theme park. As we drove, it was ¥2,000 to park and then get a free entry ticket from the ticket booth, which we had to scan to be able to enter the park. At this point it was around midday, the park had been open a couple of hours and the car park appeared to be relatively empty. This made me think that there might be a change I could get to go on at least one of the coasters (spoiler alert, this was not the case). The first area of the park you walk through is ‘La ville Gaspard et Lisa’, a French inspired street with good theming and plenty of eateries to choose from. I didn’t know much about this park, but this level of theming made me think maybe the whole park was like this…. I was very much wrong. There was some theming in Thomas land, but otherwise that’s about it. And maybe it’s not really necessary because you visit this park for the insane coasters and the incredible backdrop that is Mount Fuji. We decided to do a full loop of the park to see what it had to offer (in terms of food and to see what the wait times were like). Very quickly my hopes to possibly get on a ride or two became a dream because despite what I deceived to be very low crowds, every coaster had a wait time of a minimum of two hours. I had heard that this parks dispatched times were bad, but wow they have to be some of the worst in the world. I couldn’t even tell if they were running multiple trains because they had dispatches of over 5 minutes between the trains arriving into the stations and leaving. If you thought Villages were bad, think again. The wait times also didn’t help because they now only have 3 major coasters in operation, all of which have decent ride times. Do-Dodonpa closed several years ago now and all that remains is the loop and only a couple months ago Eejanaika also had an incident and now very much looks like it could be closed for some time. Obviously it was a little disappointing I wasn’t going to get a chance to ride anything, but it wasn’t originally in our plans to even visit the park, so I was happy to just be there and see it in person. In terms of the rest of the park, it did feel run down and I don’t know if I had set the park too high because I had always heard good things about it, but it was underwhelming to walk around. With two major coasters closed amongst 4 or 5 other flat rides closed and the operating flat rides looking like they need some love, everything was a bit meh. Don’t get me wrong, the operating coasters did look like a fantastic experience and really these are the main reason to visit this park. But for anyone who is planning on going, don’t expect much else outside these coasters, the incredible backdrop and the food was decent for theme park food. And after witnessing the dispatch times, it could honestly take you all day to just ride the 3 coasters even on a quiet day. On our way out we stopped by the Fujiyama observation deck, which for about $15 allows you access to a lookout with amazing views of Mount Fuji and the park, but is surrounded by the track of Fujiyama. After the first drop, the train ascends up to the rides second highest point because looping round this lookout; a very cool experience and you don’t have to renter the park to access it! Universal Studios Japan This park I was able to visit nine years ago during my first trip to Japan and was very excited to visit again particularly for Super Nintendo World, to get to go on the ride within the Wizarding World and to go on some of the attractions I loved last time. Before visiting, I had the main goal to get the Universal Express Pass 7 because I wanted to make sure we could actually achieve everything we wanted to because of how busy this park gets. And with Nintendo still requiring an entry time, this express pass guaranteed entry and every ride. Anyone who is wanting to visit this park, if you can afford it I highly recommend you get this pass. They sell out very quickly, but to fully enjoy your single day that I’d say it’s a must. For us entry tickets were $100 each and the Express Pass was around $250 each. This made it a more expensive day than at Disney, but far less stressful! We visited the park on a Tuesday, which isn’t the busiest day of the week for this park, most major rides had wait times between 2 and 4 hours. We had timed entry for the Wizarding World for 10am (this land doesn’t require an entry pass like Nintendo). The park opened at 8:30, but we didn’t arrive until 9:30. Unlike Disney’s security system, Universal’s was a lot more efficient and while the line was almost as long as Disney’s, it took us half the amount of time to get into the park. Once in, we headed straight for Hogwarts. My wife and I are big Harry Potter fans and while I’d been here before and we’d done the studio tour in London, we were very excited to experience this land to its fullest (something I didn’t get the chance to do last time). I love the entry into the Wizarding World at Japan; to my understanding it’s very different to the entries at both American parks, but walking through the forest and (almost) separating yourself from the rest of the park was very well executed. We headed straight for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, a ride I unfortunately missed out on last time. And having never visited the American parks this would be my first ever time experiencing this ride. The wait time was around 2 hours, but with express you skipped straight to the lockers and then join the regular queue, making the wait around 15 minutes in total. Having read all about this ride, but having never watched a POV it was still very much a surprise even after the ride opening over a decade ago. What an impressive ride this is, especially with the immense amount of technology involved (particularly considering how long it’s been open for). The loading procedures were so efficient, it’s impressive how high capacity this ride actually is. It’s filled with screens and practical sets and effects that all blend very well together. The ride system was unlike anything I’ve ever been on and it did make me feel a little nauseas (which I’d heard some people feel after this ride), but it was only brief while getting off the ride. My wife wasn’t able to ride this (due to a recent surgery), but last time I visited they offered a Hogwarts Castle walk-through experience, where you walked alongside the rides main queue, but you bypass the rides station so you don’t have to ride it. This was great because it allowed you to experience the immersive detail of the queue and it never has a wait. Sadly, we asked about it this time before the staff said they don’t offer that anymore. I’m not sure how long they haven’t offered it, but it’s a real shame they’ve done so. Next up was Flight of the Hippogriff, which had one of the longest lines in the park the whole day. If you don’t have express pass or don’t get to this ride first, it absolutely isn’t worth it. It’s fine for what it is and they have two trains operating, but it just isn’t a high capacity ride. We spent the next hour or so experiencing the entire land, checking out all of the stores and detailing; it’s so enjoyable to just walk around this area of the park. Earlier I mentioned this land almost separates you from the rest of the park; the reason it almost does this is because with Donkey Kong Country open, that land backs directly onto the Wizarding World, so you can see parts of that land behind the Hogwarts Castle. Heading out of the land we made our way anti-close wise around the park, so next us was Jaws. I remember absolutely lovely this ride last time and I enjoyed it just as much this time. It’s such a classic ride and I wish there were more rides like this around the world because even though I couldn’t speak the language, the story was clear and it’s such a gem. I truly hope USJ keeps this ride for as long as possible, since it’s the last. We then ate at the Boardwalk snacks for lunch before heading to Water World. This was the fourth time seeing this show (USJ once before and twice at USS) and it’s still just as good as the first time. I’d happily watch this show any time I visit a Universal park that has it because it’s so well out together (like how Police Academy was). We made our way through Jurassic Park (we come back here later) to head towards Minions Land. Last time I visited this park it was the Back to the Future ride, so I was interested to see the change and how they modified the ride to suit Minions Mayhem. The land itself was really well executed, with lots to look at, a couple of stores and a variety of food options (I highly recommend the Minion steamed bun). We had an Express Pass for Minions Mayhem and it was the first time ever expressing this ride and other than a simulator style ride, I didn’t really know what to expect. In summary, it’s fine; a one and done; you can skip it if you aren’t sure whether or not to ride it. I don’t know if the setup for the ride differs to other versions of the ride (would be interested to hear from anyone who’s ridden different versions), but the setup and ride system was exactly the same as what Back to the Future was. So much so, it seemed like they were still using the original dome/screen because you could seen all of the panel joins and it was pretty distracting. The ride experience I did find a little nauseating too, almost more than Harry Potter. We then continued our loop around the park through New York and Hollywood. I had hoped to ride Space Fantasy, but this wasn’t included in our Express Pass, the wait was 2 hours and no single rider option. With the closures of Spider-Man and Backdraft, this area of the park did feel pretty lacking, which is a real shame because both of those were great attractions (Spider-Man remained my favourite ever ride before this trip). We explored the many stores in these areas and found the merchandise offerings a lot better than Disney. It could be because it was more of what we were interested in, but it felt like there was a lot wider range of products to choose from. It was later in the afternoon at this point and there still a few things we wanted to do before our nighttime entry into Super Nintendo World. We made our way back to Jurassic Park to ride what still remains as my favourite coaster, Flying Dinosaur. I first rode this when it had only opened a few weeks prior to my first visit and was interested to see if it still had that well known B&M smoothness and if it still scared the hell out of me. The answer to both those questions is yes. There are only two rides that I’ve ever been on that genuinely scare me, The Giant Drop and this! The intensity, forces, speed and just the whole damn layout are insanity. But my god it’s so much tun. I was lucky enough to get front row on this ride so I could see everything we were about to face. Surprisingly this time I didn’t grey/black out (last time I didn’t many times), so I could truly appreciate every aspect of the ride. I would honestly visit this park just to ride Flying Dinosaur! And the efficiency of the load and unloading has got to be the best in the world. They have two stations and three trains always in operations. There is no stacking (unless there’s an issue), so this means there is always a train load, a train out on the track and a train unloading. Hats off to the team that operate this because it’s incredible to watch and experience. We then made our way back into the Wizarding world to have dinner at the Leaky Cauldron. The line was this restaurant was almost an hour long at lunch time, but for dinner it was only 5 minutes. They offer English pub style food and it’s an enjoyable meal for the pride you pay. At this point it was now dark, so we spent a bit of time walking around the land to enjoy its lighting and ambiance before making our way to the land we’d been most looking forward to, Super Nintendo World. We’re of the age where we grew up playing these games, so to be able to experience it in real light was very exciting. We’d obviously seen photos/videos of the land online, but the feeling of walking through the pipe into princess peaches castle and into the land was unlike anything else. There was so much to look at, it was very overwhelming but I just wanted to stand there and take it all in. I can see why this land could over stimulating for some people, but for us it was just pure joy and excitement. We made our way through to the land to ride Mario Kart. The scale of entrance into the ride was so impressive, but it just got even better as we made our way through the queue. The detailing and scale of everything was mind-blowing and we probably could’ve spent a long time just looking at it all. You collect your Mario hat that the AI googles connects too at the end of the main queue area before heading into two different rooms; once shows you how to wear the hat and the next explains how to play the game during your ride experience. I’d heard the game aspect usually took people a few rides to get the hang of, so I was sure to play close attention because I was only getting the one opportunity to ride. Now I had watched tried to POV or two of the ride when it first opened, but they honestly don’t do the ride experience justice. If you wanted, you don’t have to wear the googles and you could just sit back and enjoy the sets because they are really well executed, but the game aspect was so much fun. To be able to play MarioKart in real life made me feel like a little kid again, it was so much better than I had anticipated. The ride takes you through a blend of all of the iconic MarioKart tracks and it’s all executed so well. During the ride’s explanation they suggest that you should aim to collect over 100 coins and that I managed to do, so I felt like I picked up how to play the game/ride pretty quickly. We then made our way to Yoshi’s adventure, which is just a slow moving tracked ride that allows you to see the Nintendo land from a new perspective, with a show scene halfway through the ride. We enjoyed it for what it was, but definitely isn’t a must if the wait time is too long. Because we were entering the land at 7pm and the park was closing at 9pm, we didn’t see value in spending $50 on the power up bands to experience all of the mini-games. But honestly, you could probably spend your entire day in this land just playing all of the mini-games and you’d have a great day (if that’s your sort of thing). It was now time for Donkey Kong Country and the ride I was most looking forward to riding at this park, Mine Cart Madness. The Donkey Kong land itself isn’t massive and is mostly taken up by the ride itself. But like the Super Mario area, the detailing and Easter eggs were everywhere. Again, so much to look at and do, with lots of mini games, food options, a store and a Donkey Kong meet and greet (sadly it was too late in the day for an appearance). It was 8pm at this point and Mine Cart Madness was still listed at a four hour wait and the queue went all the way back to the entrance of this land (the ride entry is all the way at the back of the land). Even with Express Pass the wait was still about 30 minutes, as the ride vehicles only seat 4 people, but that is a crucial part to the ride experience. The station does have a moving platform and the vehicles were only spaced out around 15-20 seconds on the course, so the throughput is very high. The ride itself was so much fun! I’ve read mixed reviews online with people saying the ride it way to short and is rough, and while yes I wish the ride time was longer, it already takes up the majority of the land and due to the vehicle being attacked to an arm that extends down to the track, they don’t want to ruin the illusion when you’re off the ride. The ride itself isn’t necessarily rough, because it does run smoothly, but it does throw you side to side at a few moments on the ride, but I perceived this as being on purpose. You are riding a Mine Cart, that is jumping track and is turning on two wheels, which in reality wouldn’t be a smooth experience; so it all just adds to the narrative of the ride. There are water and smoke effects, animatronics and show scenes throughout the ride and all of it coming together made it a really fun overall experience. It’s not worth the four hour wait, but I’d wait an hour for sure. It was almost time for park close, so we began to make our way to the park exit after an incredible day and a greater appreciation for how awesome this park is. However, with now only a 10 minute wait (actually just a walk on), I had to get a night ride on Jurassic Park. This ride had been closed for 18 months as part of a massive refurbishment and had only reopened earlier this year, so I was excited to ride it in what should be in perfect condition. Because it was a cold and windy night in Osaka, I opted for the back row as the ride-ops said this is where I would get less wet (they were correct). It was so great to ride one of my favourites again, particularly at night and in such great condition; a perfect way to end the night. Suzuka Circuit Motopia The reason we got to visit this park is because we attended the Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix. As part of your entry into the event, you also get unlimited access to the entire theme/amusement park, which is integrated into the race circuit. This park is a little tricky to get too, so it’s definitely not a must visit on your Japan trip, but it has a good selection of rides. It is a free park to enter and you just pay per ride, or can purchase an unlimited ride ticket. On our first day at the F1 we entered into the event through the Main Gate, which is also the main gate for the park itself. The park it split into multiple lands, which include a water park, kids area, a driving school type zone, but the main area we walked through was called GP field, which is right alongside the race track and features the parks main coaster, GP Racers and a giant Ferris wheel. GP racers is a Hoei Sangyo (Japanese manufacturer) coaster that has duelling frack with ride vehicles only seating two people per vehicle. The track is less than 500m long, so it’s a relatively short ride experience, but like Motocoaster at Dreamworld, offers a motorbike style ride experience (with a lift hill). This ride experience is so much more comfortable than Motocoaster, because you sit sit like you are riding Jet Rescue, but the ride vehicles are like a bike so it offers the same sensation as Motocoaster should do without all the pain! Still a fun little coaster and glad I had the opportunity to ride it. Conclusion Overall a fantastic trip to Japan and after 9 years, still enjoyed it just as much if not more. The theme park highlights obviously being DisneySea and Universal Studios, with Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Fantasy Springs, Flying Dinosaur and Super Nintendo World being the major highlights from both parks. Obviously the massive crowds play a major part in the experience and can dampen it if you don’t have express passes. While we found the overall quality of ride and the theme park itself to be better at DisneySea, we ended up having a better overall day at Universal because it was less stressful and we didn’t have to worry about being on the app to secure ride passes, otherwise we’d be standing in line for hours and wouldn’t really achieve much.

^There it is.

Movieworld needs to be open longer due to their horrendous operation and cycle times… that extra 1.5 hours of trading time means guests can fit in 1 extra ride….

Oh cool a discussion thread about something new at the parks! Let me just scroll through the petty argument that happens in every thread between the same people to actually get to what I came here for! Anyway, this sounds like a great investment for the park, assuming the food matches the quality of the theming. It looks like they've gutted the entire building so hopefully that means a new kitchen where they can cook actual meals instead of the usual quick service menu

Theming has started going up on the outside of the temple structure. The Tiger Island angle still looks largely the same as the most recent photos in the thread.

Believe it or not... this was briefly on display on the Tiger Island screen. It's the layout for MM, plus a few bits of concept art! Bye bye to Motocoaster's entrance!

Rode both yesterday, first time with Africa and 2nd time Australia Africa is light years better in almost every way. It is more immersive, more entertaining, more cultural, and ultimately more fun. It felt a lot closer to the calibre of ride that I was originally hoping for when I first rode Sky Voyager. In fact it was the first time I have felt truly immersed in this style of attraction outside of Disneyland. I really hope DW continue to mix it up and maybe bring us some other destinations too. As much as I appreciate what Sky Voyager Australia brings as a showcase of our beautiful country, particularly for visiting international guests, the experience itself just doesn’t quite hit the mark compared to Africa. On another note, was really great to see full carparks and long lines at DW, all the work they are putting in to improve the park is really paying off and I hope they continue injecting life into it.

DW really keep kicking goals with guest service and satisfaction. No one would have expected them to put on another night for free just because the weather was lousy. Kudos to Greg and the team there, absolutely setting the standard

Nobody mentions how easily it could have been MW who killed 4 people. Oh I know. It was all S&S' fault right? 🤐 I don't think Village is suffering an image problem stemming from TRRR. They went gangbusters post-TRRR and pre-covid. Village's image problem is down to their contempt for guests, and their disregard for the guest experience. It has long ago been about making money, not memories. THAT is the fucking image problem at village.

Junior Driving School ruined Movie World.

Probably will open 2 days after King Claw soft opens…

I’ve heard on good authority that there is certainly more to come but they’ve had delays with some shipments. We’ll see this land and attractions continue to improve over the next few months.

Wow, the added greenery has really made the world of difference there is no doubt in my mind from an immersive perspective this is the best we’ve seen from a GC park, attention to detail seems fantastic and the weathered look and greenery still to grow in means the area won’t age negatively like many other themes areas we have seen in the past. Jane’s Restaurant looks on par with any themed offerings I’ve seen overseas

DONT HAVE THE HD VIDEO CONVERTED BY I CAN CONFIRM ITS TESTING!!!! IMG_0706.mov

As many have said I really doubt Intamin is dedicating a slot at a major international industry event to say “hey we’re replacing a gyro swing with another gyro swing at a park in Australia”. could we possibly be getting a 2 for 1 announcement. King Claw as per the trademark is clearly happening in the short-medium term, but maybe that’s just the appetiser to the main course….

Some pics from today!

Most of the caribou has arrived in the maintenance area out back too. This measures about 13 metres long, so there's going to be the wings and tail section somewhere too.

Latest nearmap is up, current as at 02/06/2024.

Didn’t realise what this meant til I rocked in for the last hour of opening, they’ve actually learned from Levi & opened it for guests pre-grand opening. Actual good job, VRTP!

Image dump from today, in some form of order: Overview of Jungle Rush’s site from Corroborree: Scaffolding/work walls have gone up around the Corroborree: Images of the (soon to be) ride building: (which, basic walls have begun to go up for) And, of Jungle Rush’s track in the carpark: Plus some images of the new Vintage Cars plot in its current state (in case you were wondering, the old one is still seemingly untouched):

I feel like WWW doesn’t get the airtime is deserves. It’s a pretty damn solid little park.

Greg is taking Dreamworld in the right direction; he is treating it's his personally owned business putting the love and care into it compared to the corporate style mess down the street. It feels like he personally wants everyone visiting to have the best day out possible while Village just want the money and don't care about the guest experience.

Just a couple of random ones my son took.