MaxxTheMonster

Went to MW yesterday and have to admit that it was a nice day out... Lethal Weapon is back in operation again and it was close to one of the smoothest rides on LW in recent memory. Yes all shops are still opening later but that is something that can be easily overlooked with many characters out and about throughout the day for photo opportunities and generally entertaining the crowds. On a slight side note... During the HWSD showings noticed Gavin Coleman and a tech were sitting in the audience next to the control booth making notes throughout the show. Does anyone know if this a frequent occurence? Or could this be a sign that the long awaited Stage 2 is coming into play soon?

Yes it is... That is what you get when ou work the graveyard shift 5 nights a week...

Was just looking over the myfun site and came across the DC Comics information... Two interesting things to notice. Firstly the image they are using on the page has Green Lantern, Wonderwoman, Batman and Superman... Secondly it states "Plus, the Movie World Star Parade will be transformed into a DC Comics themed night parade from 5pm daily, which includes all new DC Comics floats, from 26 June to 31 July only." So the parade will be running for only 6 days. Also on a side note: For June, if you purchase the new $9.95 tall sipper, you will get free refills all day... Wonder if they will make people present a receipt to stop pass holders using it again and again...

Unless anyone is going there or past in the next 2 days and can make a side stop, I'm heading to MW on Thursday so will make a short trip to WnW and have a look.

I used it last week to dump photos from my camera memory card to take more pics... Cheaper than paying for a new memory card.

I agree... The parade with the flyover by Daphne and Batman was by far one of the better parades... I believe Neo also used to use it at the end of the Matrix Street Show. From discussions with Robyn and Diane (old PASS cast members who used to do the Daphne flyover), they said that it was removed as the cast complained that they did not feel safe while clipping in to the harness on the scaffolding above Daily Planet and management refused to put up a more permanent setup and so it was removed entirely.

Before anyone resigns to thinking I have some form of Negativity bias... although I may have left this post too late... I have 4 days off coming up and despite the comments that I have posted in this thread recently, I am once again looking forward to spending my time at WBMW & SW. I will agree that there are a whole bunch of positives within these parks and these not only stem from the great rides and attractions in the parks but also from bringing back memories of the past 10 years. Riding Superman 15+ times in a row, choosing one attraction and spending literally the whole time at the park at that one attraction, going to the Dirty Harry bar for Nachos and a drink. These are all positive experiences that make the day a wonderous occasion no matter how many times you do it. Yes some of the decisions made at the parks in the recent past have probably not been the best in our eyes, but as has been mentioned before, we are using a base line that is perhaps a little unobtainable at this time. We need to keep in mind that Australia is in some ways still recovering from a recession and that the parks are first and foremost a business. We need to realise that the decisions made by one person can have many sides to it and was most likely not a split second choice by them but one that was thought out and discussed by a team and while it may not have been the most desired option, it might have been the right one to make. Overall, yes, I am happy with our parks and will continue to attend them regularly. It is just a shame that some compromises simply must be made.

I agree joz, I seriously doubt they are remaining. With the sidewinders, black hole and Mach slides they don't need them.

See when Guest Services becomes on of the "attractions" you attend everytime you go to a park, I think there has been some level of feedback, but when even the supervisor of a department doesn't know what time his/her department is operating I think the level of which these issues occur is a little higher than these posts would ever reach, so where is the point. Let's face it, it doesn't matter what we tell the park, the head honcho is keeping the revenue looking good while supplying a less that reasonable service to the public, and being a business, the money is what they are worried about.

Okay... Started the morning off at WBMW at 9:50am. Only two ticket booths open selling tickets, yay for the pass, so walked through to the next area where there was only one staff member scanning passes. Again walked down main street to see ALL shops closed with signs informing opening times between 10:30 and 12:30. Went on SDSC, then walked through to WWF where again everything was closed. Walked back to Batman The Ride as it was 10:30am (open from 10 - 11:30) and it was closed. Went to the first HWSD and then headed out, to see the Looney Sports store which has a big sign "HWSD Unique Merchandise" still closed. One would think the perfect time to sell this stuff would be as people were exiting the show. Took a seat in front of the big screen and the Hell Drivers brought out the hero show car. After 15 minutes they took the car back of house, and then returned with it another 15 minutes later. Another 15 minutes of photos and then back of house for 20 minutes before bringing it out once again. Went for a wander towards the WWF smoking area and noticed that there were 6 staff members running 5 sideshow arcade games, yet most of the shops were still closed. It was now 12:30 and finally the Looney Sports, Recording Studio, Photo Store and Willy Wonka stores opened along with the Gotham Cafe. Went on the Dodgems where we were informed by the attendant that we were not to bump into each other... Why else have bumoer cars? Left the park to pick up the wife and noticed that the Batman store was still closed (12:45). Never having being one to believe others and judge things for myself we decided to head to Seaworld... Headed down to Seaworld for the remainder of the day arriving at 14:00pm and headed to the Dockside Tavern for nachos. Got there and was about to order when we were informed by the staff member that they were not serving anymore food today and that we could get food at the front of the park. Decided to take the monorail around from Mid station. When we arrived at the front of the park we headed up to the food outlets to find all closed other than the bakery section so headed over to Guest Services to enquire about where we might be able to get some hot food being winter. I asked the staff member where we could get some food other than icecreams or sandwiches and she immediately said the Dockside Tavern, which I informed her was no longer serving food today. She then said the front of the park, which I again informed her was closed. At this stage she used her radio and called a whole bunch of codes, which I assume was to tell the F&B Supervisor to contact her as immediately the phone rang and she enquired about my issue. She had to tell the F&B Supervisor that Dockside and the front of the park were both closed. She made a few notes and then informed me that the courtyard in the middle of the park was serving burgers and seafood delights until 15:30pm, so we headed there. It was now 15:05pm as we ordered 2 seafood delights to which another attendant (whom I was not ordering through) stopped serving the guests she was serving and told me that they weren't making any more of them as they had no chefs, to which I told her the F&B Supervisor had said they would be serving them until 15:30pm. Despite this she attempted to argue the point until I told her to contact the Supervisor and enquire at which stage she walked out the back and informed the staff that they would have to make them. What happened next was an extremely poor display of customer service. The staff out the back began to argue with the attendant that they were not going to make any, and this was clearly audible from where I was standing. After a minute or so of arguing the staff out back began making the meals, and then proceeded to walk out the front and say to the attendant tell them they will have to wait because we have to cook them... Right in front of me. After the meals we headed to the "new" Sea Viper. The new restraints are terrible. I have broad shoulders and the uuseless bar at the side meant that the attendant had to force the restraint down causing pain to myself and difficulty breathing. Once getting off the ride I felt almost like I had just been on Lethal Weapon with the higher sides to the restraints. We then walked back through the park to the exit only to find every store was closed, too bad that we wanted to grab an icecream on the way out. The only positive from the trip to Seaworld was the animal attractions, we spent 20 minutes watching the baby wobby's in the touch pool at Shark Bay.

Terror Canyon is still there as of today. Trucks loaded with arriving new slide sectons and twister in a nice pile where the old runouts were. Looks like they are taking great care with the removed slides so either they being moved elsewhere in the park or to another park. Crane was moving the cover from the queue area. Have a couple of pictures that will be uploaded at a later time.

I'm on a trip to WnW and MW today so have got a few photos, looks like they are starting to put up the new tower today. Twister is sitting in a heap and a truck pulled in with more slide pieces. Will post them this evening.

I actually did think of that and find it amusing... I was wondering if he was going to go and report that he lost it, where and how. I would love to have been the staff member taking that one.

Last I saw of it was flying over the heads of the people in front of me as we shot out of the launch bay. All I can say is I'm glad I wasn't on that side of the carriage.

Of all the rides on the coast, the only one I won't go on is The Claw. The pendulum motion is fine, the revolving motion is fine. It's something about putting the two together that doesn't agree with me.

While in the Bermuda Triangle thread we have been commenting on the quality and efficiency of staff at SeaWorld, I would like to raise a few issues I noticed on my quick 2 hr trip to MovieWorld today. Usually the staff for Superman Escape are pretty good with ensuring pockets are empty and I understand that sometimes things slip by (I once had my car key and annual pass in my pocket which I honestly forgot about until later that day), however today there was a gentleman 2 rows in front of me who was holding up a digital camera (above his head) filming the entire subway section of the ride, that is until launch when the camera was removed from his grip. I also went on the Looney Tunes River Ride and was very disappointed with the staff prior to boarding the boats. The first staff member completed the first room in what I would say is the fastest I have ever heard. He didn't even pause for people to Ooh and Aah and had completed the second room and was walking into the "Sound Stage" as I was entering the second room, and then continued to blaze through the "Sound Stage" while standing just inside the gate offstage where no one could see him. Now I am all for equal opportunity employment, however, the drill doors opened and a little asian girl who was shorter than the kid I was standing next to attempted to welcome us to "Australia". I say attempted as I don't think anyone other than the people directly in front of the open door even knew she was there and despite almost no talking I could not hear her, and I was standing between both sets of doors no more than a metre and a half from her. Loading into the last of three boats used this cycle, (me in the front row, no one in the second, one in the third and a couple in the back), she attempted to seperate the couple informing them that one of them needed to sit in the second row to balance the boat, to which the female replied that neither of them would move. After asking again and explaining that the boat needed to be evenly balanced and again the female saying no she gave up and sent the boat. I have seen these boats go with 3 people in the front row, 4 in the second and the rest empty. Is this a new OHS ruling? Or was the attendant on some sort of power trip?

Thanks DJ - spent most of the day looking through old threads for it.

Does anyone remember the old slides that used to be at Shailer Park where the Hyperdome is? Does anyone have any old photos or information on them? Whatever happened to them, as from memory they were pretty similar to the slides that used to be at WnW as park of the WhiteWater Mountain.

The only thing you need to worry about on ToT is if you have a fear of not seeing where you are going. My wife went on ToT during a ScreamWorld night for the first time and she is terrified of going backwards on rides. Other than that it is a great experience. Just need to step over the threshold.

I was thinking with the space at the lower back of the capsule that it looks like there could have been a propeller of some kind, sort of like a submarine. However the simple fact that there are so many small holes in the body would put serious doubt that this was any sort of water ride.

One thing I was interested to see last weekend is that two more members of the old PA team have joined the Hell Driver team. I agree DJ it does scream of being a cheaper knock off, but for people like me who cannot afford to see the original and are resigned to watching it on youtube, it does a pretty good job. I never got to see the show with 5 vehicles however I would say that this would make the set seem a little overcrowded and the feeling of "are they going to hit" would be diminished as there are so many vehicles that you wouldn't really notice if two got close. The quality of the driving has greatly improved with the policia vehicles almost constantly side by side instead of one behind the other during drinfting, however as I witnessed last weekend, this greatly increases the chances that they will have a fender bender if one suddenly brakes. I am interested to know if anyone has any knowledge of the frequency that the vehicles are taken out of action for serious services and repairs. I ask as we saw one policia car getting a new window put in while still walking out of the auditorium after a show (under the parking garage) and another getting a dent (from the fender bender) bumped back out, along with the almost constant backfiring of one of the policia cars (literally, flames were shooting over two feet out of the back of the car).

I am interested to see what people's opinions of this show are now that it has had a good time to settle in to the park and the drivers to relax into the new show. There have been some nice comical additions added in which do bring a more human fel into the show. What do others think?

I have said elsewhere in another thread a year or so ago about removing old rides or something, but it rings true now as well, yes it is first and foremost a business and we all need to be aware that without more money in than out that our theme parks would cease to exist. I am an Accountant and Auditor for an international accomodation chain and as such know this fact very well as it is my job to look at how we can bring down our expenditure and raise the revenue. But first and foremost we ensure we remain true to the company vision which is high quality customer service in a 5 star heritage listed building. I know I may go a little off topic here but, another thread has listed the issues with the VIP pass, and I agree, they are conditioning people to expect low cost ticketing and yes this lower revenue will reflect in the operations as lower revenue means less expenditure to at least break even. For 10 years I paid for an annual pass and never complained about the ever increasing costs and I'm sure a lot of others didn't either because the quality was maintained. But the new VIP passes have created more issues in the long run rather than good I believe as people expect entry at a lower cost, however will still expect to same standard. When the complaints of standard become worse or when attractions fall into a state where more expenditure is required, the prices will go up to raise revenue and people will refuse to pay them as they will expect to get th low prices again. I hope VR hasn't shot itself in the foot with these passes as an idea to raise quick revenue at the cost of long term gains.

The problem is that the park is specifically marketed as Warner Bros. Yes the movie memorabilia store is movies in general... but at present you cannot turn around in there without seeing Twilight everywhere. They used to have one wall that was covered in Warner Bros only movies and majority of the "memorabilia" in the store you could not find unless you went to a speciality store. Now they have those half rate metal objects that are supposed to look like something from a movie... You can pick these up at any dollars and sense at less than half the price... This, to me, creates the feeling of me being at any shopping centre, not a "movie memorabilia" shop, and I feel that this does create a bit of a negative addition to my day as I don't feel that I am in a unique and purely "theme park" store. To quote you Gazza, "if when you go to the park and they do something that impacts on your day, like closing rides etc, take issue with it!" and that is what I have done. A couple of years ago I was queried if I was a person also known in these forums as Doc Brown, which I denied then as I would now, but what everyone needs to keep in mind is that some people are after a different experience than others and not all of us are purely interested in the thrill of the rides. For me the theming, shows and atmosphere are what draws me back and makes my day. If I go to the park with a group of people I am usually the one who stands back and looks after the bags as the thrill rides do not really interest me. So to me these issues do create a negative impact on my day as they were what kept me coming back for more.

While I agree with you dj that it would be better than cutting corners, their heads are still not in the right places. Went to the park today (arriving at 10:55am) with the wife as it is the only day we have off together to see that Lethal Weapon not working, which is fine, down for maintenance and a sign at the front. No problem... Went and saw the 11am showing of HWSD and then walked down to go on Batman Adventure the ride... which was closed between 11:30am and 3pm... Then walked back down main street and past what used to be the Superman and justice league shop to see a dog tag machine... Continued past the hot dog stand where they are now charging $7 for what is smaller than the $3.50 version a year or so ago, and then past the dancing heads, recording studio and willy wonka shop which were all closed. Headed into Looney Tunes Village to go on the River Ride to see that it would not be open until 12pm. Walked back across the park towards WWF and noticed that all the sideshow attractions were open, 3 staff there and no one stopping to use them. After a stop to Scooby Doo (where we were stopped several times while on the ride) we headed back down main street towards the Dru Building store... and stopped in amazement... When did WB have anything to do with Twilight? Or Betty Boop? Or Star Wars? Transformers? Predator? Rocky? Why do they now have a section of the department store devoted to candy, and ice cream? They have the Ice Cream parlour, Willy Wonka and the new store opposite HWSD for that. Then went to go on Batman Adventure the ride only to see the queue now filling the queue area and then heading out past the batman store. Other than Batman, Green Lantern and the Flash I saw no costume characters other than during the parade or their respective shows. I understand that they need to look at the financial side, but this is just getting absolutely terrible. As far as the public holiday penalty rates go... do they not make enough money during the rest of the year to cover one more day of penalty rates? That is almost as bad as Pizza Hut charging more for a pizza as they have to pay their employees more...