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It just would’ve been nice for them to experience both of these attractions and get their opinions of them. Plus Scooby wasn’t announced as being closed when CS first organized their trip. But yeah, I’m sure they were expecting some additional closures.

Coaster Studios are arriving next week. Sucks they’re not only going to miss out on Superman, but Scooby Doo too.

So something I’ve noticed lately on various theme park podcasts and discussion groups is talk about the difference between regional “action/amusement parks” and theme parks. One notable example is a recent podcast episode I listened to that spoke about Gumbuya World’s new coasters. The hosts claimed that “Gumbuya has transcended it’s action park status and is now a proper theme park” with the addition of these two new attractions. I disagree with this statement. In my view, Gumbuya has always been a well themed park with dedicated “lands” and areas just as any legitimate theme park would and I’ve always classified it as such. I don’t think simply adding one type of ride should suddenly change the entire category the park is labeled under. Meanwhile, I’ve also seen other people claim that Gumbuya needs at least 4 or 5 more major attractions before it can be classed as a true theme park. So that’s got me thinking, what truly makes a “theme park” a proper theme park and at what point does a park like Gumbuya cross-over to become universally regarded as a theme park instead of a simple action park? Is it when a certain level of theming is installed? When a certain amount of rides and attractions are brought in? Does it matter what kinds of attractions the park has? Does layout have anything to do with it? There are parks like Adventure World and Funfields which have fantastic theming and story telling in their rides and tick a lot of the “theme park” boxes for me, yet I’m sure many still see them as action/amusement parks. At the same time, there are other parks that have coasters and big attractions but are widely regarded as simple amusement parks. To give my opinion, I see parks like Adventure World, Adventure Park, Funfields, Gumbuya World, Aussie World, Magic Mountain and Jamberoo as a unique “Australian style” of theme park (similar to how Europe and the US have distinctive styles of theme parks) as let’s face it, it’s what the majority of our parks are like and isn’t really replicated the same way anywhere else (particularly the wide open spaces and mashup of dry rides and water rides sharing the same space). I’m interested to hear your thoughts and opinions on this matter.

I would say that early Movie World (early 90’s to the early 2000’s) was a lot closer to Universal’s standard then what we have today. I think the shift to focusing on adding thrill rides and less about theming and immersion has cheapened the experience (even though we have more attractions now than we did back them). Still, I wouldn’t call it a “regional park”, but I’d say it’s teetering on the edge of being one in its current state. It will be interesting to see what happens after WOO opens. If the area is finished off to the high standard they’ve been promising and is as well themed as the concept art, it could improve the overall image of the park and increase its international appeal. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

Honestly, this is a great fit for the area IMHO. A solid upgrade from Pounce and Bounce and in a much better location too. With all these new additions and upgrades currently taking place, 2024 is shaping up to be a big year for Movie World (and GC parks in general)!

From what I’ve observed, the in-house AV team mostly just focus on shows and events.

I can understand that the maintenance department have their hands full and have to prioritise jobs. However, I still think it’s a little ridiculous that some of these systems have remained non-functional for over 4 years. I’m sure management would have realised they’re not working by now as it’s quite noticeable. Even if there have been issues with sourcing equipment, surely they could’ve come up with a workaround in that time. This issue doesn’t effect other parks (and wasn’t an issue at Movie World in the past), so I don’t know why it’s currently such a problem at MW. Either way, it’s pretty disappointing.

Fairly often. I’m local and like to visit the parks when I have the chance.

I’ve noticed this too. I was reading an article fairly recently about a ride stoppage and pretty much all of the comments were calling out the media’s BS. Good to see.

Dreamworld vlog is up:

What the heck has happened to all the background music around Movie World? Walking around the park yesterday, the only area that had decent working audio was Main Street. All other areas were either dead silent with no music playing whatsoever or had so many broken speakers that it could hardly be heard. I know this may seem like a somewhat unimportant issue in the scheme of things (and that I’m being a little picky). However, it made for a very dull experience overall and caused many of the areas to feel pretty bland and lack atmosphere. Music is such an essential part of theme parks, helping to create an atmosphere, immerse you in the attractions and assist in making your time within the park a little more exciting, magical and special. Movie World has historically been extremely good at this, with themed music appropriate to each area of the park surrounding you at every turn. However, since 2019 things have taken a noticeable turn for the worse (and they’ve only gone further downhill as time’s gone on). Here’s a quick rundown of the current audio situation (from what I’ve observed) within the park: *Superman Escape’s external music - not working, hasn’t played since 2019. *Green Lantern’s queue music - not working, hasn’t played since 2019. *DC Rivals entrance music - playing, however only one speaker is functioning correctly. *DC Rivals queue music - playing, but only the speakers behind the murals and in the station unload area are working. *Scooby’s external music - not working during my visit yesterday, only seems to play half the time depending on the day. *Doomsday - playing, but multiple speakers are clearly damaged (sound very distorted and lacking bass or treble) *Wild West area - not working, hasn’t played since the WWF upgrade in 2021. *Looney Tunes area - not working, hasn’t played correctly since the RRRC upgrade in 2021. New speakers were added around the tree in mid 2022 and the area music briefly played through them for a while. However those are no longer operating either and the land is now back to complete silence. *Road Runner queue music - not working, hasn’t played for about 4 months. *Main Street locker area - not working, hasn’t played for about 4 months. So yeah, as you can see, barley anything is playing at the park right now and the fact that some areas (like outside Superman Escape) haven’t had working audio for over 4 years at this point is pretty ridiculous. This would never happen at any of the Disney, Universal and other “world class” parks out there. I actually managed to ask a maintenance worker I bumped into what the deal was with the lack for audio. He told me that “Superman’s outdoor mushroom speakers were stuffed” and they “were having trouble replacing them”. I’m not sure why they would have such trouble, considering they’re just speakers that sit on the ground (and I discovered that they can be purchased locally from this place in Robina, literally 20 mins up the road): https://www.scpaudio.com/LS-21-Garden-Speaker-30W-100V-3-Taps In any case, surly it doesn’t take over 4 years to fix something as simple as a basic audio system with a few speakers. As to why the new speakers around the tree in the Loony Tunes area have been turned off again, the worker informed me that they were “clashing with the sound of the carousel”. Considering the carousel and the area music have always played side by side with no issues, I’m not sure why it’s suddenly a problem now. The carousel wasn’t operating during my visit, meaning nothing was playing at all. However, it would have to be blasting pretty loud to effect the audio by the tree. In addition, all of the broken, neglected mushroom speakers in this area have still not been repaired and continue to sit there in silence, rotting away as they have done for years now. I understand I may sound a little overly negative here. However, to me music has always been such an important part of the experience of visiting Movie World (or any other theme park for that matter) and it’s incredibly disappointing to see it become so neglected by the park. In my opinion, VRTP have done a pretty good job with MW recently, turning it around and breathing new life into it (through actions such as tidying up the park, refreshing attractions such as JL, improving their annual events, announcing/building new attractions ect.) and they deserve praise for that. Yet despite all of this, the audio problem has persisted and continues to get worse and worse. It’s become so bad that even friends I visit the park with have noticed and commented on it. I’m hoping Movie World will continue the good work they’ve done in other departments and return the auditory experience of the park to its former glory, thereby assisting in making the overall guest experience the best it can possibly be.

Great trip report! Jamberoo is a beautiful park, I’ll have to head down there and visit it again as soon as I get the opportunity.

Wet n Wild vlog is up:

Do you have a link?

Looks like VRTP’s marketing people are up to their usual tricks on TPW’s Instagram. Did you guys know Scooby Doo is “Australia’s most iconic coaster”? 😂

They’ve pretty much confirmed that they will be building one as it’s part of their master plan. There was a lot of talk about it during the media coverage of the two new coasters.

TPW will be in the country within the next couple of weeks, so they’ll be able to ride Superman. It’s only CS who will miss out.

If I was to make a guess as to what’s really going on with the monorail, I would say that Sea World fully intended to reopen it as soon as the construction of The New Atlantis was completed (as originally stated by the park). However, during the massive delays in construction, the monorail system degraded to a point where it became unusable and/or unsafe due to a lack of upkeep and the park has suddenly realized it will cost an awful lot to reactivate as a result. I’d say VRTP want to get it going again, but are finding it hard to justify given the costs, hence why it’s now seemingly in a limbo state.

According to this comment under the TPW announcement video, they have got in touch with the parks and asked for permission to film: I do hope the parks will take the arrival of all these enthusiasts seriously and bring their a-game in terms of operations, presentation, customer service etc. This is a pretty big opportunity to showcase our parks to the world and they should be aiming to give the best impression possible.

Funfields has a lot more theming than Jamberoo. I personally would put FF closer to Adventure World in Perth in terms of similarities. Even though FF doesn’t currently have a coaster, I’ve found that the two parks have a pretty similar feel overall. How does the quality of Polin slides compare with other brands? Haven’t they had some QC issues recently?

I’d say say both parks have a very different overall feel to them that goes beyond ride counts and attraction types. Gumbuya (which I just realized I misspelled in my original post) feels a bit more corporate and closer to a Gold Coast park, while Funfields seems a little more family oriented and has a unique charm to it. I think FF currently has the perfect balance of “family run action/adventure park” vibes while still having enough theming and a decent attraction line-up to be a legitimate theme park. Whereas GW is trying to emulate what’s happening on the Gold Coast. Not to say one is better than the other, but they’re both unique experiences.

Shawn and Charlotte are finally coming down under!

*Pic heavy thread* Hi all! Whilst in Melbourne, I decided to visit Funfields theme park to wrap up 2022 and figured I’d share my thoughts here. For those who don’t know, Funfields is located in Whittlesea (about 40 mins from Melbourne’s CBD). Opening in February 1985 as the “Alpine Toboggan Park” (that’s right, this park pre-dates Wonderland) it was rebranded as Funfields in 2005 and has seen rapid expansion ever since. The park no longer offers printed park maps, however a large sign containing the map (as well as a QR code that links you to a digital copy) is located near the entrance. As you enter the park, you are greeted with a large outdoor picnic area complete with barbecues. Funfields allows (and even somewhat encourages) guests to bring their own food and drinks and camp out on the lawn (multiple people even brought tents which are also allowed). Turning left leads you to the first themed land in the park; “Mystic Kingdom”, a children’s area with a medieval theme. The area features some impressive theming, including an interactive animatronic tree. The land is home to a series of flat rides for the youngsters, including an SBF mini drop tower, an SBF Airborne Shot, a ferris wheel, carousel, spinning balloon ride and a teacups ride re-located from Australia Zoo (most of which I forgot to take pictures of, opps)! I love the way this operator’s booth is themed. The “Burnout” (formally the “Stingray” from Dreamworld) was also located in this area, but has since been retired to the car park (apparently it’s for sale). Continuing through this area leads you to “Amazonia Falls”, the park’s interactive water playground with a jungle theme. Manufactured by Wizard Works, this attraction is quite unique in that it’s completely solid-state and uses a computer to activate the water effects, rather than relying on the traditional mechanical valve technology most water playgrounds use. This also allows for some pretty interesting effects such as motion activated fountain jets and “TNT detonators” (where pushing the plunger will cause water jets hidden in the surrounding splash pool to suddenly activate, soaking unsuspecting guests). The structure also has a “tipping bucket” of sorts, though it’s not really a bucket at all. Instead the “treehouse” simply dumps water on guests every 3 mins. A smaller, more traditional water play structure by Whitewater West called Birdy Cove is also located nearby. This attraction is designed for children under 6. Private cabanas are available to hire in this area as well. Moving further up the hill, we arrive at the Tiki Bay Bumper Boats (manufactured by J&J Amusements), one of the older attractions at the park, having been installed in 2004. Still as popular as ever. Behind Tiki Bay is the Typhoon, a Proslide Cannonbowl water slide advertised as being the longest of its kind in the world when it opened in 2013. Despite the many expansions and additional investments Funfields have made after its launch, Typhoon still remains one of my favourite slides not only in the park, but in the country! The sheer amount of speed you pick up in the enclosed section never fails to take my breath away. You absolutely FLY through this thing! That combined with the drop into the typhoon bowl itself and the suspense of not knowing if you’re going to complete the final drop facing forwards or backwards creates an incredibly fun and intense ride experience. A must do attraction when visiting the park! Next up is unfortunately the first stinker in the Funfields line-up IMHO, the Splashdown in-ground water slides. A flashback to the old “Alpine Toboggan Park” days, these slides were installed in the 80’s and quite frankly, that’s were they belong. Whilst they may have some historical significance, I wouldn’t mind seeing them be replaced with something a little more modern. Next are Wipeout and Blackout, two slides manufactured by Australian Waterslides and Leisure and installed in 2009. While they may have been somewhat overshadowed by their newer Proslide counterparts, these are still decent, fun slides that are worth checking out (especially Wipeout which lives up to its name. It has a tendency to launch riders over the final splashdown pool, providing a pretty thrilling finale). Now we reach the ride that started it all, the Alpine Toboggan. Despite being installed in 1985, this attraction still holds up extremely well today. The carts were speed-limited a few years ago due to multiple accidents when guests ignored the warnings to slow down on corners. Some believe that this has negatively effected the ride experience, however I was still able to get my cart up to a decent speed and had a very enjoyable ride. Perhaps it differs from cart to cart? Between the Wipeout/Blackout waterslides and the toboggan is a path that leads to the rear section of the park. Following this takes you to…The Voodoo! A very highly themed Zamperla Discovery Revolution. Funfields really went all out with the theming for this attraction and the attention to detail is amazing! The basic storyline is that your are exploring an ancient temple, looking for lost treasure. However, the treasure is guarded by an ancient Voodoo spirit named “Tawhirl”. Signs throughout the queue combined with an ominous soundtrack help to set up the story and prepare you for the experience ahead. Many props (lost items from previous explorers who attempted to grab the treasure and failed) are scattered throughout the queue and around the ride area. I love the attention to detail in this rock work too! It’s supposed to look as if the gondola has smashed through the middle. Then, as you enter the site of the old temple (or board the ride) Tawhirl becomes displeased with your presence and unleashes her wrath, picking you up and throwing you around (the ride swinging you around) to keep you away from the treasure. The ride experience is a perfect balance of being fairly intense, but still something the whole family can enjoy. A perfect addition to the park with simply excellent theming and a well executed storyline. I also really love how the theming from nearby Volcano Beach in the background perfectly matches up with Voodoo’s theming in the foreground here. Seems the park actually thought about sight lines which is pretty impressive! Speaking of which, Volcano Beach is the park’s wave pool and another very well themed area. I think I’ll let the pictures do the talking here: As you can see, it’s probably the most immersive and highly themed wave pool in the country. I absolutely love having the volcano as the centrepiece and that there’s plenty of shade around the beach area to relax in. It pumps out some pretty decent waves too! A cafe is also located in the area offering takeaway food such as chips, burgers and pizza as well as ice creams and lollies. Salads and even coffee is also on offer here (a larger cafe near the front of the park carries a similar menu too). Private cabanas surrounding the wave pool are also available for hire. Behind Volcano Beach sits the newest addition to the park, Supernova! It’s a shame this attraction has been largely overshadowed by the opening of Gumbya’s new coasters, as it’s the park’s biggest investment yet and is by far the best water ride they’ve installed to date. The pacing on this slide is fantastic. From the very beginning of the ride, you immediately pick up quite a lot of speed and navigate the first few turns at a pretty fast pace (this speed is maintained throughout the slide). The “Supanova” colour effects in the tunnel are very impressive and the fact you pass through them at fairly high speed really adds to the experience. Then comes a pretty intense drop into the main tornado (not sure if the drop is any steeper than other tornados, but it certainly feels that way) before taking one final turn and finally ending the ride in the splashdown pool. It may not come across in this write-up, but the slide is actually quite long in length and would have to be one of the most intense water slides I’ve been on (aside from maybe some drop slides). If I was to nitpick though, I would say the most disappointing aspect of the ride was the first “bowl” element near the beginning (not sure what it’s officially known as). I was expecting that you would spin around in this bowl or do something exciting. But nothing really happens. It’s just sort of there and you simply glide past it on one side and that’s it. Not really sure what the significance of it is TBH. Apart from that though, this is a sensational slide overall that is fast and thrilling and not to be missed! Next to Supernova is 2017’s Gravity Wave. I must say, the two slides weaving around each other looks very impressive from the tower. While Gravity Wave is definitely a decent attraction, I do unfortunately think it’s a bit of a one trick pony (at least compared to Supernova). The ride starts out incredibly slowly and meanders around until the main drop. While the main drop is still incredible and definitely worth checking out, Typhoon is still the superior slide overall IMHO, with Supernova beating them both by a mile. Still, having both Supernova and Gravity next to each other works really well and adds to a solid line-up in that area of the park. Next to Gravity wave is the Kraken Racer, a 4 lane aqua racer from Proslide. Another good addition to the park. The park is also home to Thunderdome Speedway, a go cart track installed in 1997 that still pulls in decent crowds today. Heading back towards the front of the park leads us to Treasure Cove, a pirate themed mini golf course. One of the holes even goes through a tunnel! This cemetery area reminds me of Movie World’s Boot Hill. In front of the mini golf is Sea World’s former Pirate Ship, Blackbeard’s Fury. Manufactured by Huss and added to the park in 2009, this attraction still rides beautifully and is well maintained by the park. It even has additional theming that wasn’t present during its time at SW. That covers all of the major attractions the park currently has on offer. All up, Funfields is a very impressive park that is well kept, well run and features a fantastic line-up of rides with decent theming and a great atmosphere. Other factors such as themed audio throughout the park, decent food, friendly staff and great operators add to a fantastic overall experience. I do feel like the addition of a coaster is very much needed to complete with Gumbya, though there is plenty of room for expansion, so hopefully this will come later. The water rides on offer are far superior to what Gumbya currently have though. So they easily have them beat in that regard IMHO. All in all, Funfields is definitely a must do park while visiting Victoria and is easily one of the best regional parks in the country!

The ride runs the original cycle from Buzzsaw, something must have gone wrong in that video.

Definitely the front row.