Theme Park Girl

Apparently *something* new is on the way for the stunt show, according to the theme park social network FB page.... I'm guessing the revised version of stunt driver 2, given it's the same cars in the photo.

Lol! Don't worry you're probably far from the only one. I know hubby and I made the mistake one day of going up to the one at Dreamworld (outside the river rapids) to ask if she had noticed any Eureka activity whilst at her stand. It was one of those "get tickets to Gold Coast attractions for just $20" ones. After a short and brief conversation about it, she managed to sucker us into her speel and I got stuck there for like half an hour because I felt guilty saying "no thanks" since we approached her in the first place looking for info LOL! She was going on about having to attend some 1 hour seminar at a hotel in surfers at a scheduled time in order to get the tickets, which included free breakfast etc etc. Gave us some mobile number we were expected to ring to book a date and time. Needless to say we didn't ring nor go ??? Now we attempt to try and avoid them like the plague, alas, as I said, they can be aggressive sometimes and not take no for an answer ??

^^^ this. Couldn't have said it better, myself!!! I know usually we would maybe visit a theme park once a year, if that. That's also all that happened when I was a child, my parents couldn't afford to take me very often because of the high entry prices. But with the introduction of the cheap VIP passes, my own family & I are visiting them at least once a week. And yes, we do make regular purchases, usually food & drinks, when we can't be bothered leaving the park to seek something cheaper. They also have drink refill deals which are worthwhile if you buy a sipper outright and take it back with you on days you visit. Might be only a few dollars a day for us to pay, but it adds up for the park when everyone is doing it. I know when we visited Movieworld yesterday, we bought: 1 x coffee, 1 x donut, 1 x icecream w/ gummy bears, 1 x bag of lollies, 1 x green lantern cape, 1 x earrings. The latter mainly being for our kids lol. And we didn't even end up having lunch there! I think it's fairly obvious how the cheap passes are turning out to be a winner for the parks, especially when it comes to locals

The several months part is incorrect. It was only last month that someone reported testing activity with Eureka, if you go back through this thread you will see it. I also saw it being tested a few times throughout March/April. So it has only been a matter of weeks since they stopped. In my opinion that's way too early for them, or us, to conclude anything regarding the ride's future.

Lol! Yeah, I admit I am a little emotionally attached to AA/LW. I will be a nervous wreck if they ever remove it XD But I also haven't been on many coasters, only the ones in the GC theme parks (including the Corkscrew & Thunderbolt) and the Scenic Railway in Melbourne. So out of those, it's the best I have been on. I love the track design with the barrel rolls and the bit near the station which is my fave part (it shoots down toward the ground at stop speed, then suddenly curves right up into another loop/roll lol) and I do prefer the freedom of being suspended from above over sitting in a train. It almost feels like you're flying Obviously it's just personal preference on my part, but until I get the opportunity to visit a Six Flags park (one day, fingers crossed!!!) and ride more coasters of different designs, the Arkham will remain my fave one Thanx btw for the tips on avoiding the time share people lol... will definitely keep them in mind next time they attempt to heckle me XD

Might be off topic, but Infinity was good the first time I went through it back when it opened, but the last time I did (a few months ago) I admit I was disappointed with it. Has lost its appeal these days, especially after multiple visits over the years accompanying other first timers. One thing I noticed is that need for fire alarms in the mirror rooms has ruined the effect for some of them (hard to believe that the floor goes on endlessly under you when you can see the red light of the fire alarms flashing away underneath on the real mirrored floor lol) and then it just goes from being a great optical illusion walkthrough to a creepy 'fun'house where you spend most of your time fumbling around in pitch black, just trying to find the exit doors. Something like that just scares the crap out of small children and claustrophobic people lol. I probably also would have appreciated it more if I wasn't forking out through the teeth for it. Cost nearly $60 just for me and my daughter to go through it together! At least when I went through the first time, it was free through the radio station I used to work for lol. So I didn't care so much about value for money then. A walk through would be good at the theme parks, so long as a lot of thought is put into it's design and it's something you can enjoy more than once, plus appeal to all ages.

Ah, ok. Didn't know that about Arkham, I just assumed that Intamin had just supplied new/different restraints. Makes sense. Although still a little frustrating, despite it being for safety reasons. We will be waiting a long while... 10cm is a lot of height for one girl to have to grow in just 12 months lol. Hopefully her pre-teen hormones help a little with that and she doesn't end up on the shorter side like her mum - I'm 156cm, hahaha

Pretty sure the official renewal deal for VIP Magic passes finished today anyway, so that option above may be the only way now to renew? At least until it expires as well. Eta: Oh wait. The email says it's the last day to get the renewal deal at the "best price", along with the free bring a friend thing. So I guess renewals are still available after today, just at a higher price.

Might be a bit of a random question, but does anyone know why Movieworld has such strict height restrictions for its coasters? I can understand it's obviously for safety reasons (duh) but seems a little bit odd that my 10 year old, who is currently 130cm tall, is allowed to ride everything at Dreamworld, including all the BiG 9 thrill rides. She has been on all of them except the Buzzsaw, which she is tall enough for, just too chicken to go on yet. Yet at MW, the minimum height allowed is 140cm? She was very disappointed today as she was looking forward to riding the Arkham Asylum with me, alas it may be a long time yet until she is tall enough :/ It's also the same minimum height required for the Superman, Batwing & Green Lantern. I thought most of the coasters between the parks were by the same manufacturers (Intamin, Vekoma) so yeah, just seemed odd that it's 130cm for one park, yet 140cm for the other, which would suggest that maybe the restrictions are actually set by the park instead of the manufacturers? Otherwise wouldn't some of the thrill rides at DW be 140cm as well? o_O

Thanks Pushbutton! And oh, don't worry... I still miss the Looney Times ride, too. I even said that at the time when we walked down the way and the old building came into view lol. They are only using the corner of the warehouse, so who knows, maybe they can still do something with the rest? Although obviously won't be of the same size or duration of LTRR. Have to admit, I am still surprised how much use they got out of the old Wayne Manor building for JL. Didn't seem that big when BA:TR was in there, maybe because it was a stationary ride (ie. despite the obvious motion stuff with the capsules) but yeah, the Justice League was longer than I expected it to be lol.

This is the area that definitely needs *something*.... been unused for way too long. Eta: excuse my two random photo bombers lol XD

So I went to Movieworld today for the first time in over two years. Thought I'd share my thoughts and experiences as well on some of the new stuff, and also some of the older stuff The good stuff: DRIVING SCHOOL: The Driving School is really great, such a good idea for the little ones, especially the little bonus of printing them a "drivers licence" for free before riding. My 5 & 10 year old loved it! Although I though the session was a little short, much like bumper car time. Can understand this is to keep the queue moving, though. The whole mini-MW theming is great, too. ROAD RUNNER RC: Not bad for a kiddy coaster, have to admit it was the first time I've ever been on it. Was the first coaster my 10 year old ever rode a few years ago. Was actually surprised with the G's it pulled after the initial drop lol. ARKHAM ASYLUM: I know the Arkham Asylum is not exactly new, but it sorta was for me today, since the last time I visited MW it was closed for annual maintenance. Now can I just say, I have a LOT of history and somewhat of an emotional attachment to this ride. My best friend and I bought annual passes for MW not long after it opened back on the early 90's, and (no joke) we used to ride the Lethal Weapon up to 10x a day. We knew the opening video word for word. Yes, she was a rough girl, but we LOVED this coaster to bits. So yeah, today was the first time I had ridden it since it's conversion to Arkham Asylum. And can I just say, what has been done with it is AWESOME and I totally commend Movieworld on such fantastic upgrades to an old ride. The new train is so much more comfortable to sit in, no more head banging issues, and a lot more freedom to move around whilst in the harness. The ride seems a lot smoother as well now, and gosh, it's either gotten faster or I had just forgotten exactly how fast it was!!! The new asylum/joker theming is fantastic, too. Either way, I was so impressed and very happy to ride LW/Arkham again after all these years, brought back so many memories and I would have gone right back on it again, had there not been a 40 minute queue lol. It's definitely my favourite rollercoaster still SCOOBY DOO: Still an old favourite, my 10 year old loved it as well. Only had a 10 minute queue. Good to see they fixed some stuff too which people previously had been complaining about (ie. swinging axes not working, no lasers etc). But did notice she is getting a little rough with age. JUSTICE LEAGUE: Been on it once before and my kids loved it, especially my 5 year old son. Another -10 minute wait. Great theming inside Obviously a lot tamer ride than it's brothers and sisters, but hey, it's a great family ride and lots of fun for the young at heart. Oh, and I got the highest score, hahaha. Go me GREEN LANTERN: still closed. No updates. Meh. SUPERMAN: didn't get to go on it this time round, queue was too big. Meh. Next time WILD WEST FALLS: also didn't get to go on it this visit round, but my husband and daughter did and loved it. Ok, now onto the bad stuff.... STUNT DRIVER 2: The new Stunt Driver show sucked. Sorry but we were really, really disappointed with this one! As someone said in another thread, it really was just 5 minutes of utes doing burnouts. Don't get me wrong, the stunts were clever, but there was very little variety in them. No comedy (what happened to the dude in the red hat and blue overalls? Can't remember his name, but he was great!!) No real storyline. Very bland and no heart to it at all. Oh, also... the clips shown on the big screen that the director supposedly filmed during the live show didn't match (for example, it showed jumps and ramps in the footage that weren't actually there in reality, there was footage of a car up on it's side on two wheels, yet no cars did that stunt either during our show session, car colours were different etc) which just seemed lazy and sloppy on movieworld's part, as they were obviously filmed at another time and they didn't bother to even *try* to make it look consistent. The fireball at the end was completely random. Was better when it was related to a helicopter crashing/exploding. And then it was over, just like that. We walked out fairly bitter, complaining about how bad it had become and feeling like we had just wasted quality ride time. Seriously... just bring back the Police Academy stunt show. At least that was entertaining! PARK THEMING: great as always around the main areas of the park, however when ARE they going to do something with the old maverick show area? It was completely empty and deserted, and most visitors looked awkward walking through it. Such wasted opportunity. Would love to see the western show make a comeback, especially since they only have the one show offering now. Also noticed they have closed off the Chinatown alley, since obviously it was the old entrance to lethal weapon. But also another wasted opportunity. Would have been nice to see them add some street/food markets or something along there like Dreamworld recently had for the Chinese New Year. Or change it to something else to match the Arkham Asylum's theme and reopen that walkway for peeps to use. Noticed the tombstones in the graveyard no longer snore, move etc. It may be trivial, but sometimes it's the little things that make it so much more enjoyable as a whole. Got pounced on by the time share people on the way to Wild West falls, and they were persistent, despite us initially declining. Have had similar issues with the ones at Dreamworld & Seaworld. Seriously, they need to get rid of these fools :/ Overall, despite some of the disappointments. we had a good morning, were only able to stay a few hours due to hubby's evening work commitments, but still had fun nonetheless... look forward to going back on Wednesday when hubby & I have the day off work and the kids are at school lol. More quality coaster time

Well that's what you'd think, and assume that would be the case. Ultimately no amount of testing can prove the test of time except time itself, though. I guess am just still struggling to get my head around the physics of this ride.

Pretty sure I've read a few sources saying it's the first and only El Toro coaster in the world to have 8 seater cars. I am still convinced that this is specifically the problem with its design - that the cars are too wide for such a small track, causing too much stress on the wheel assemblies whilst it's in motion, especially with all the turns and twists involved. Even I used to think it looked kinda awkward/wrong whilst watching it in action. Maybe it passed all it's testing phases initially and has ran flawlessly for years, but I think physics got the best of it in the end. Once again, personal belief. Happy to be proven otherwise. Still waiting to hear the outcome of the investigation to see what they find out.

Indeed. Thought it was kinda ironic that out of all the ride photos they could have used, the new VIP passes just *had* to have a big picture of the GL on the back of them as well lol. Sucks they are one coaster down atm, that's one less ride we will be able to look forward to this weekend when we visit MW for the first time in over 2 years I think the only new attraction that has been added in that time is the Driving Academy, so not really much of a worthy substitute. Although my 5 year old will probably disagree with me

Ah what the hell

Nah, got it the first time Joz The fact still remains that he is probably right with his prediction lol.

Yeah I have to agree with Alex, I personally love the new Wipeout decking area.... it's awesome to be able to stand almost right underneath the ride whilst its in operation. Worth the sacrifice of the sand if you ask me

Lol... I think Richard may have just corrected you, Flea... they are definitely using their brains somewhere behind the scenes in Village Roadshow management land lol. Even if its not immediately clear what their motives are

Well it made me "wow" when I went there, given the fact its so old and still in operation... plus it had a manual brake attendant, which I had never seen before. I'm sure I wouldn't be the only one to find this interesting.... it's not like there is many of these type of coasters left in the world.

Lol! Definitely no loops added when we paid a brief visit to SE this arvo to pick up our new passes. The media are full of ? sometimes ???

I apologise if this is old news, just remembered you guys discussing the future of Gold passes (ie. special event entry) earlier in this thread and got this email late this arvo... the second paragraph officially addresses this future pass upgrade option:

And let's not forget the 103 year old Great Scenic Railway at Luna Park Melbourne, as well. The oldest continually operating rollercoaster in the world. Many theme parks take great pride in having classic/vintage coasters in their parks, which become iconic over time.

Not exactly. We only moved back to the Gold Coast late last year. Wasn't worthwhile buying passes to all parks whilst we lived 4+ hours drive out of town, as we would be lucky to find the time to use the ones we had. Now that we are local, parks are only down the road and it makes sense to have access to all of them

The Storm Coaster at SW made the local news this arvo... but not exactly for the right reason lol: http://m.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/a-roller-coaster-has-reportedly-broken-down-at-sea-world-on-the-gold-coast/story-fnihsrf2-1227353341119 Apparently it's big news these days when rollercoasters break down, following the Green Lantern incident XD