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It doesn't fit the theme of the ride at all. It was supposed to look like an airport terminal, and instead it looks like it belongs in an industrial park. I've detailed extensively why at the time of its construction AND given some of the history of aviation in Queensland which could have been used to build a story around the ride and the building, in this post: And I provided examples of what could have been done here - based on actual airports from around the world: The facade of the building is just aluminium cladding hanging on a steel frame. It would be incredibly easy to replace it with moulded fibreglass (Scooby/JL/Jungle Rush) or traditional cladding like the other buildings. The shade structure over the exterior queue would need to be torn down and replaced with something more traditional, which is easily achievable. The glass towers around the stairs would ideally be removed. There is plenty of space inside the building's original footprint to redesign the stairs so the glass protrusions are not needed, alternatively, they could get the same facade treatment as the rest of the building. Is this costly? Yes. But fixing the terrible decisions of the previous management have been and will continue to be extremely costly. But the long term viability and profitability of the park are going to depend on it. Aesthetics matter. Especially at a 'theme' park. It is why ToT was removed and the tower redesigned. It could have stayed as it was, but the new management saw value in the aesthetic improvement. Imagine if Disney put the SV building on Main St. or if Universal put it in Wizarding World. People wouldn't say 'but it matches the theme of the ride', they would call it what it is - a lumpy, bulbous hemorrhoid of a building that doesn't belong in any theme park, anywhere.

No, they’re right, Dreamworld needs to change Sky Voyager’s facade. Maybe they could take some inspo from the masters like Disney… Seriously, though, the fact that all people have to complain about regarding Dreamworld is the style of a facade (that’s mostly blocked by DF in any angle that matters anyways) not being one they’d personally like, and a recent marketing campaign that’s slightly corny, (though getting increasingly repetitive) could be seen as a good thing.

Disneyland Paris has announced that in 2025, coinciding with when World of Frozen opens, the park will be renamed from ‘Walt Disney Studios Park’ to ‘Disney Adventure World’. They will also be transforming to the entrance of the park from a movie studio to all-new design paying homage to historic movie theaters. They will also have entertainment on the new lake they have been building, which will be called Adventure Bay. https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2024/04/disney-adventure-world-disneyland-paris-reimagines-second-park/

Hello everyone: Me and my family are looking at maybe doing a trip to Japan, most likely in April or May 2026 but that is not confirmed yet. Any places we should go? We will most likely be going to Osaka and maybe Japan via the Bullet Train, so we are looking at things to do there. We want to go to Universal in Osaka and maybe Tokyo Disney, but we wont just be doing a park trip so we want some suggestions on what else there is to do in Japan. If any previous visitors to Japan could leave some tips here that would be great.

Some great advice shared already, outside of Disney/Universal I'd recommend adding at least one or two smaller parks. In Tokyo: - Yomiuriland has some wonderfully unique attractions (noodle cup rapids is my personal favourite) - Tokyo Dome City has the excellent Steel Dolphin - Hanayashiki is peak "weird Japan park" None of these would necessarily use a full day either. There's also Fuji-Q with its infamously slow operations, I would try to combine this with a visit to Mount Fuji if you're going to bother. A day trip from Tokyo is possible but personally next time I'll be trying to spend at least one night up there. Other random parks to consider: - Nagashima Spa Land, Japan's answer to Cedar Point - Greenland, quite big with a healthy dose of oddball, weird and interesting rides - Parque Espana, takes some getting to but well worth the effort. You may even end up as "King of the Parade" (as happened to my friend, hilarious!) - Suzuka Circuit, with the famous "scream and it goes faster" coaster - Nasu Highland, with a spaghetti bowl of coasters straight out of Rollercoaster Tycoon

We are planning a trip this year and the one thing we have learned is that you need to plan and research a LOT. I'm hearing you about it not being a park trip, so while it'll be hard for most folk here to not fall back to 'do this park too!' i'll try and balance things out a bit... First, a couple of things to echo - if you do Disney, DisneySea should be the priority. You should still spend 2 days there minimum, but if you only have one, spend it at Sea. We have 3 weeks, and we've already put down 2 days in each park. But don't not go just because people have said you need more time there. A little time is enough to show you if those people were right, and whether you want to go back again later for a better experience. Be prepared to be flexible. A lot of things sell out early (including express passes) and in Disney's case - vacation package guests, and then hotel guests, get first dibs on pretty much everything. A lot can be sold out so have alternative options if something isn't available. Know the dates things are made available - As an example, Universal passes are dropped around 2 months out. Disney usually drops hotels & vacation packages 3 months out, but in our case they dropped the packages early due to the opening of fantasy springs. This sort of thing drops at a set time of day, and some of the websites drop from too much traffic \ place you in a queue. (We waited in the queue for 11 hours to secure a Fantasy Springs package, but that's not the average experience). Even experiences like Shibuya Sky, some of the Team Lab experiences drop tickets a certain time out, and there is a rush to get all the best spots early. You might still find tickets closer to the day, but they may not be at an ideal time and you'll find yourself compromising things if you haven't planned. ESPECIALLY because you're planning to go in Sakura season - you should get a good idea of your itinerary NOW and so that you're ready to book accommodations as soon as they're available for your dates (usually 12 months out). You'll also want to be researching all of the attractions you want to do, though with two years before you go there are going to be plenty of changes in that time, so again, be flexible) Transport. iPhones these days can add an IC card like Suica for general public transport. If you're doing a lot of back and forth between cities, consider whether the JR pass will work, but note that it had a huge price increase last year and you really have to do a lot of long distance shinkansen to make it worthwhile. We're hitting Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Miyajima, Nara, Nagoya, Hakone and then back to Tokyo, so for us it works - but if you're just hitting the golden triangle, (Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto) it generally isn't worth it. Many of our stops don't include parks, so may be closer to the itinerary you're looking for. Youtube is your best friend. The amount of things we've found, learned and researched by watching youtube is mind blowing. There is so much to learn, and we're still making tweaks to our itinerary based on updated info from the latest videos. We've watched a lot of different channels, but the ones that ended up in our subs were: For the bigger parks, TDR Explorer is really informative. For getting around (especially as a family), Kensho Quest has been really good For just seeing what a place \ attraction looks like without much waffle, channels like ITSUKA JAPAN provide walkthroughs Americans documenting their travels (which is great as you learn lessons from them as a result) check out Ordinary Adventures or Tales from our Pocket Hints and tips about everything japan from a local guy starting his own tour guide \ travel company - HARBLIFE Hints and tips about everything japan from a local - TOKYO KENCHAN Hints and tips about everything japan from an american guy who does travel videos everywhere - YELLOW PRODUCTIONS Good japanese advice from a westerner (UK) living and working in japan (but mixed in with silly video collaborations made with friends - Abroad in Japan (he's also written several books under the same name)

Imo disneysea over Disney land if you can only do 1. Tokyo tower is amazing, Shinjuku is a nice city, Akiharbara is cool to see, plus we did a heap of tours to, Mt Fuji tour and to see the nuclear bomb museum was an eye opener. We are going again in 2025.

1 day combined at Disney is a waste of time. there is also no park hopper tickets in Japan so you’d be paying 2 separate full day entries re: USJ There is a long time before you go, the express pass offerings and even available rides will change so impossible to judge now

Just spoke to one of my family members about it, they want to spend 2 days at Universal as it has Mario, Harry Potter, Jurrasic Park etc. but only wants to spend 1 day combined at Disney. Not sure if that will be enough so I am thinking we might have to cut that out. Also we might go in June/July if it is too busy. The problem is there would be 11 rides with Express that I would want to use (FOTH, Forbidden Journey, Jurrasic Park, Hollywood Dream, Flying Dinosaur, Space Fantasy, Jaws, Minion Mayhem, Mario Kart, Yoshi and DK) but only 7 slots for the highest express pass. What four would you recommend I cut, or should I buy two express passes.

Disney Adventurous Adventures. Interesting how it lacks a possessive on the Disney part, i.e. not Disney's. Maybe the Mou$e is unhappy at their lack of profits, start beating up their execs like Mickey beat up the Jonas brothers in South Park. (disclaimer: I am taking the piss).

Not to mention the re-skinned Disney Afternoon (US) which was branded Disney Adventures on Channel 7, weekday afternoons

Is anyone else old enough for the name to remind them of reading Disney Adventures magazine as a kid?

Finally, Disney’s coming to Australia! (/j)

What a stupid name. Surely they could've thought of a more original name than "Disney Adventure World"

Disney's Hollywood Studios https://www.parkz.com.au/search/photos/location/disneys-hollywood-studios (For more pics) Last but not least from my November trip. I ended up here on a couple of the days through park hopping. For the thrill seekers, the park probably has the best lineup at Walt Disney World. Plenty of new stuff to see here. Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance An amazing attraction. I don't think there is much that comes close in terms of being a true start to finish immersive experience with a strong storyline. Haunted mansion is great for instance, but they still whack you on an escalator at the end of the ride for example. Big Thunder is pretty, but no story right? Harry Potter is a great ride, just make sure you stay looking straight ahead! But this, its so well thought out from start to finish. You begin in a reistance base, carved out in some caverns on the edge of the settlement, full of supplies and munitions. The first preshow tells you that you have to get off the planet since your current location is no longer safe. A cute BB-8 Animatronic whirls around in a concerned manner. You then head outside and board a transport ship. It's like a mild simulator ride, (not too strong since everyone is standing up), anyhow your craft is intercepted by the first order in a space battle, and you are dragged into the shuttle bay of a star destroyer. The doors open, and you are in a completely different location, the massive void of the shuttle bay! It's real wow moment, up there with that moment on POTC where you turn the corner into that huge battle. And you turn around and there your ship is, parked against the wall. From there you are taken into custody hustled down into holding cells and locked inside. Kylo Ren and General Hux try to interrogate you, but are distracted and wander off to deal with other issues. In that moment, some unseen allies come to your rescue, and burn a hole in the wall to bust you out. From here its into your next ride vehicle, a trackless transporter. From then on, the fun really starts. You start sneaking off through the corridors of the star destroyer, but within about the 30 seconds you are spotted by some storm troopers and they open fire. This is where the Disney magic really shines, with actual laser shots ricocheting around you, holes being blown in walls etc. From then on its several minutes of running for your life through different battle scenes. At one point you are darting around like mice under the legs of an AT-AT, at another point Kylo ren sticks a lightsaber through the roof and tries to cut you up. The only real downer was that on all my rides the last couple of scenes were running in B mode. None of the huge moving laser guns were working, so your vehicle sort of just moves back and forth erratically, seemingly dodging ghosts. The final scene had no Kylo Ren animatronic, so you just see him hovering outside in his spaceship before getting shot down, and you head to the escape pods without the rushing air effect of being sucked out into space. And then of course its a wild finale where your vehicle drives into a simulator pod meets freefall ride and evacuates out of the star destroyer, crash landing on the planet. What makes this cool is the unload area is actually outdoors, so the whole thing is wrapped up in a neat little package and you are back to where you started. Did this 3 times. Ah well, maybe when i return to one of the parks it'll all be going. Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run I've done this back at Disneyland when the 'soft' opened their version of Galaxy's Edge and Rise wasn't ready yet, and then Covid happened and here I am finally seeing the rest of it in 2023. A huge recreation of the Milennium Falcon sits out front And you make your way through a well themed, but some what lifeless workshop themed queue. IMO they should have made it more like star tours with more things moving, though the soundtrack is quite humorous in this area if you listen in. And then after walking through a gangway, you board the faclon. On one ride, just before closing i had the most odd experience where I had an entire pod to myself. The ride is an on the rails shooter, with a bit of steering ability, and of course all your motion simulator fun, as you go off flying to steal some coaxium from another planet. A couple of of players shoot, a couple shoot and a couple do mostly nothing except hit one button at the right moment. So I got to take on the pilots position, with everything else being done on auto for you. Slinky Dog Dash Possibly the gentlest LSM launch in existence? The theming is quite fun, they have actually got this whole sub narrative that what you are riding on is a roller coaster kit owned by Andy, so the queue is scattered with spare bits of track and supports, as well as a lot of oversized toys. The first launch goes into a horseshoe turn and helix. Stops at the 2nd launch, which is themed a bit like a launcher on a hotwheels set. From there is a floater hill, a bunch of very mild bunny hops that would be right at home on a Japanese jet coaster, finished off with an S bend. When you are waiting on the brakes, squeaky penguin sings to you with his microphone, which was a nice surprise you dont see from the queue. This thing can get painful queues, but I tended to try and ride it later in the day and waited like 30-40 mins on both rides. Alien Swirling Saucers This is the same ride as Maters Junkyard Jamboree, several turntables interconnected so you move in a double figure 8 pattern, with some mechanism below the floor allowing your car to move from one turntable to the next. What is also cool is that your car is connected to the turntable by a springloaded tow bar, so your car drifts and swings wildly from side to side, not unlike the classic whip rides. Good fun. The "pizza planet" in the middle of the ride is a nice detail. Now why dont they have an ACTUAL pizza planet at Disney, it would be a license to print money Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy Fine for kids, but its Disney so its still decent. Imagine an animatronic Lighting mcqueen with a projection mapped eyes and mouth. Hey greets the crowd, moving about on his podium. He then demonstrates his speed, with a panoramic racing simulator on a giant screen behind. But his arch rival hacks in to try and beat him, but of course McQueen prevails. Tower of Terror Still excellent. As the prototype, this one actually has a section where your vehicle moves from one lift to another through a brief dark ride scene, with some cool optical illusions. Paris still wins out in terms of sheer intensity of the ride programme, and probably Tokyo has the best preshow. Rock n Roller Coaster Some embuggerance with this one, as it kept bloody breaking down. Surprisingly, one of my favourite things about this is how the whole loading area is themed. The preshow has you watching Aerosmith recording in their studio, and they invite you to join them at their concert via stretch limousine. When you step out the back door of the studio, you are in an alleyway, and your limousine is waiting in a multi level car park, but the theming is so immersive, eg the operators booth is inside the cashiers office, the secondary control panel is on the call box, there’s all sorts of other details like a motorbike being fixed, and even a low clearance height bar above the track where it leaves the station. The launch is powerful, and its a smooth, frantic layout full of positive gs, with a sea serpent roll, a lot of helices, and then a surprise corkscrew at the end. Mickey and Minnies Runaway Railway This one is fantastic. You head into the chinese theatre, ready to watch a short film featuring Mickey and Minnie on a road trip, (Hmm reminds me of how the gremlins ride started out). On the way, they meet goofy driving a train, and an explosion on the train in the cartoon creates a real explosion in the theatre, creating a smoking hole in the wall that leads to the cartoon realm. You are invited to pass through, and inside, everything is done in the art style of the cartoon, with scribbled details on the walls, 2d props etc. The ride vehicles are a train of trackless pods behind a locomotive driven by goofy. Shortly into the ride your cars become detached from the loco, spinning out of control through a number of projection mapped scenes, often taking different routes. On the way you keep encountering Mickey and Minnie in peril. One scene had you caught up in a tornado, with very strong winds. Another was in a big city, where a jackhammering worker causes everything to shake. An impressive moment is where a room has faux rockwork and looks like a jungle, but when you return to it, it has transformed into an underwater environment. There’s also a nice moment where you end up in a dance studio run by daisy duck, and all the vehicles waltz side to side in unison. But, the quality of the graphics was something else, it just looks so bright and crisp, like a blacklight painting come to life, and they have managed to incorporate other moving props into it seamlessly. Did this a couple of times. I ended up timing it to try a few of the food items at the park. The Totchos from Woody's Lunchbox are a big ole bowl of carbs. Chilli con carne with corn chips and potato gems. But i think the 'blandness' of the corn chips overpowers everything. And i was sure to have booked in a drink at Oga's Cantina. I was recommended to try a Fuzzy Tauntan, which was rum and a few other sour flavours, but the foam on top actually made your lips go numb, like as if it had Lignocaine in it or something. The other drink i had was like a juice blend with coloured boba balls floating in it. They had a theatre showing newer Mickey Mouse shorts. Since when did it become like Ren and Stimpy? Overall, I think the park has one of the best ride lineups at Disney, and a mixed bag in terms of Immersive theming. Star Wars and Toy Story are great, but the rest of it is generic city streets and backlot theming, with a fair bit of the latter being under renovation. *****************************

I did say I'd get around to this eventually. Let me preface this by saying - I went with my family. Ages 6-67. I was more interested in enjoying my time than taking 1000 photos, so there aren't many photos that don't have family members in them. If I have some photos to share of a particular thing I will, but otherwise I’ve included photos found online and attributed wherever I can. I'm going to cover off on more than just Universal itself, but i'll try to group things logically. This was our first post-covid trip out of country, so i'll include some details there too. This is pretty much in ‘itinerary order’ and it’s what we found worked for us but happy to answer any questions if you’re planning a trip as we did loads of research before visiting to decide what we did (and didn’t) want to go to. Travel We departed Brisbane on September 12th - a trip postponed by 2.5 years (originally planned to go in April 2020). Our bookings were made while Singapore was still quite heavy on restrictions for covid, however almost all of these were dropped days before our arrival. Masks were required on public transport and in health settings and that was about it. We travelled with Qantas, and received frequent communications in the lead up to the departure date on what we needed to do. Singapore's immigration requirements needed us to upload our covid vaccine certificates, but you could only do so 3 days before travel, which made it stressful with not much time before departure if something went wrong (but nothing did). On arrival, we breezed through customs and straight into a transfer service to our hotel. Just be mindful advertised prices for these services don’t include some additional fees if you pay by card, taxes, tolls in some situations and so on – so make sure you’ve got a bit more available than what it says on the sign at the airport! Accommodation (No, we didn't stay at Raffles) We went through many changes to our accommodations - Singapore has long been a transit hub and while some hotels were shuttered due to low occupancy, others were being used as quarantine hotels for unvaccinated travellers and so the options available were minimal. We originally found a family-friendly hotel with adjoining rooms not far from Orchard (the major shopping district), and while it was close to the MRT, everything we wanted to do was easily 30 minutes transit each day. We really wanted to spend a lot of time on Sentosa Island (more on that later) but the only hotels open were the ultra expensive luxury style resorts, most of which didn't offer adjoining rooms for families, and charged full rate per room. We eventually bit the (very expensive) bullet and booked Hotel Michael, part of Resorts World and steps away from Universal and all of the Sentosa attractions on the island. Hotel Michael was a bit more expensive than we would have liked, but it was worth it to not face losing 60 minutes minimum per day to transport. Then - with mere weeks before we were due to start our trip - we received an email from a mailing list we had signed up for 3 years ago - that the hotel we had booked for April 2020 - Village Hotel Sentosa - would reopen just in time for our arrival! (and it was about 30% cheaper than Hotel Michael, and a lot more modern!) Village Hotel Sentosa (A view from one of the two Infinity Pools overlooking Singapore Straits) Village Hotel seen from the Sky Helix While not as close to the big attractions as Hotel Michael, Village Hotel was 2 minutes walk from the Imbiah Monorail station or a downhill 5 minute walk to Resorts World. The hotel also had their own shuttle bus departing every 30 minutes, and stopping at Beach Station, Resorts World, and VivoCity (mainland shopping centre with connections to MRT and Buses to practically anywhere you wanted to go). Village offered adjoining rooms in two different family friendly sizes (standard and deluxe), and with the hotel first opened in April 2019, it's barely aged having spent two thirds of the time in mothballs. The hotel was bright, fresh and clean, not suffering the usual damp smell associated with air conditioned hotels in a tropical climate. The hotel shared it's space and facilities with several other hotels operated by the same group including the Barracks (old school style) and the Outpost (deluxe adults only resort), with a very generous 5 swimming pool zones (including a lazy river!), two of which featured an infinity pool edge to the Singapore Straits. Both of these pools overlooked the Sentosa beach show 'Wings of Time' offering an exclusively private in-pool view of the show and fireworks each night. The courtyard surrounding the pools was full of lush tropical plantings and also featured fish ponds full of lily pads and small fish right outside our window. Additional chillout, gathering and play spaces, a steam room, poolside\in pool bar, a snack truck fitted inside a Kombi van, and more than enough places to sit, lay back, relax and chill out. At night, they showed poolside movies on a big screen, and set up coloured bean bags for people who didn't wish to enter the water. I mean, I know i'm going on about this hotel, but when we considered the facilities at the other hotels we'd looked at - this resort was amazing. Kids also got their own checkin desk and received a welcome pack upon 'completing checkin' which included a stuffed toy mascot for the hotel they could colour in themselves (markers provided) and their own branded robe and slippers to keep! The hotel staff delighted in surprising the kids with little gifts every now and then - a hotel branded rubik's cube, mini ice creams and snacks, all sorts of little surprises to keep the kids in constant awe. Each day the hotel lobby had something fun for kids too (though we had little time to do them all) including facepainting, balloon animals - even free caramel popcorn! The hotel also had a snack trolley where every day a constantly changing array of "childhood snacks" from Singapore would appear, free for guests to try (I think i've tried every possible layer cake combination that ever existed). We did have some minor issues with housekeeping but these were quickly resolved by the front desk team. Their concierge though were amazing - when trying to make a last minute booking, our credit card required a text message authentication code - which of course we couldn't receive as our Aus numbers weren't set up for roaming. (I'll include some info on this stuff later) - After explaining what we wanted to do, and them realising that none of their other options would work, the concierge personally paid for our tickets on his credit card, and added the exact cost to our bill, and then had the tickets forwarded to the hotel so staff could have them printed and delivered to our room - a process that surprisingly took several hours, that they completed well after midnight to ensure we had our tickets for the next day. Village Hotel Sentosa rating - 10/10. Even with minor annoyances with housekeeping, I'd be happy staying here every time I visit. SEA Aquarium Ok so enough about the hotel - Our first full day was spent at SEA Aquarium on Sentosa Island. We figured this would be a shorter day for us if we were still suffering the effects of the flight, and ease ourselves into things. The Aquarium is part of the resorts world group, and ticketing is handled on the same website (so you can buy all your tickets in one transaction and play with your shopping cart before you checkout if you're on a budget). The group operates Universal, the Aquarium, Waterpark and also a separately ticketed Dolphin Island interaction, which is sandwiched between the waterpark and aquarium, which allows them the opportunity to upsell a dolphin experience as part of the other attractions. For these reasons, we were able to price up a package that included a dolphin experience with our Aquarium tickets by booking a VIP Tour of the aquarium. Surprisingly this was well worth it, with the tour guide offering a lot of informative info about each of the exhibits and answering questions. The VIP tour also gets behind the scenes access at several points in the experience - including private experiences with sea jellies, poison dart frogs, and even iguanas. The Aquarium opened as the world's largest, and is only beaten by Chimelong Ocean Kingdom. The Open Ocean exhibit is huge at over 18 Million litres including 3 giant Reef Manta Rays, and one of the world's largest Queensland (Giant) Groupers. The Open Ocean exhibit has a giant panoramic viewing space with raised grandstand seating for an uninterrupted view of the exhibit. It also features a wrap around 270 degree viewing area, which also has overhead windows too. A restaurant is situated on another section of this exhibit so you can dine right by the Open Ocean - and if that isn't enough, they also feature deluxe resort villas, with an underwater bedroom and your own private viewing window. (Though, do remember the public aquarium viewing window is directly opposite and you can be seen!) SEA Aquarium rating - 7.5/10 Dolphin Island Around lunchtime, we moved from the Open Ocean up to Dolphin Island by a private elevator and were introduced to our dolphin trainer for the experience. The included experience is 'out of water' though you can do premium 'in water' experiences too. You spend a not insignificant amount of time with a dolphin and trainer just for your own private group, and several photographers positioned around the pools capture some great candid shots during the experience. Be aware that these photos will be some of the most expensive photos you will ever purchase (and I say that having paid Wedding Photographer prices at Sea World), with the only package offering more than 1 or 2 photos from the experience costing well over $200 (though admittedly for this price they give you every single photo plus a leather bound display album). We were satisfied with the experience but overall the attraction has been quite controversial. A family friend used to be a trainer at our Sea World so we have previously spent a lot of time with SW's dolphins, and I just didn't feel that the same care and attention into the animals was present - they were circus performers rather than exhibiting natural behaviours. It's hard to explain exactly what it was about the experience, it just didn't feel 'right'. Animals that misbehaved were scolded and rebuked, whereas at SW the poor behaviour would simply be ignored. There were also open wounds clearly visible while still working the animals in the same routine. Rightly or wrongly, my feel on this experience was sour. The 6 year old absolutely loved it (and that's who it was for in the first place) so I left conflicted. I would not recommend. Why didn't we do Sea World? We had planned to, but as this opportunity came up while booking tickets, it seemed a no-brainer inclusion whilst on holiday, rather than a separate GC trip, and Singapore's weather was always going to be better for a poolside experience. We do know better and i've already resolved to book with SW for his next birthday. Dolphin Island rating - 3.5/10 Wings of time This is a ‘world of color’ style show done over water on the southern beachfront of Sentosa. Projection onto water screens, dancing water fountains, pyro effects and a few other surprises. I caught ‘Songs of the Sea’ back in 2010, and this show was a bit more polished and a bit less cringe-worthy corny live-acting, but I feel the 100% digital show was lacking that physical element that made the stage ‘three dimensional’. The live actors in SotS connected the audience to the screens a lot better. As mentioned, you could see the bigger parts of the show from our hotel pool so we caught the finale a few times, but did see the show in person and it was worth the visit. Hot Tip: try to pick a seat towards the back of the seating area. Look for the giant “rocks” with the very badly hidden speakers and don’t sit directly in front of them. The show’s sound system relies on a few large drivers instead of smaller spaced out speakers around the ampitheatre, and the volume for those directly infront of them is uncomfortable at best. The island is still recovering from Covid shutdowns and does not offer all attractions every day. While WoT operated, many of the food options immediately outside the venue were closed as we went on a Tuesday. During busier times – eg: Thursday to Sunday, the WoT ampitheatre is also open during the day and admission is free with food purchase from the vendors nearby. This gives a spacious seating area overlooking the Straits, and a ‘day show’ dancing fountain operates to some quiet classical pieces. The show’s duty cycle shuts down the fountains briefly each hour, at which point they operate a standalone 40m+ water cannon similar to what you’d see in Canberra at the Captain Cook memorial in lake burley-griffin. Wings of time rating – 7/10 Singapore Zoo The zoo and several other attractions appear to have been grouped under the ‘Mandai Wildlife Reserve’ banner since my last visit. The complex houses 4 attractions including the ‘day’ zoo, the ‘night’ zoo, the River of Wonders, and down the road a ways was the Jurong Bird Park. Ticketing for all can be arranged through a single portal, though the combinations on offer made choosing tricky. In the end, our decisions were made for us as we had chosen to do the ‘day’ zoo and River of Wonders, only to discover that River of Wonder’s signature attraction – the Amazon River Quest (a ride system similar to a log flume \ looney tunes river ride) would be closed for maintenance. We had decided against the night safari given kid’s stamina (it was a damn long day) and the Jurong bird park not being co-located made same-day trips unviable. So we ended up just doing the zoo, and having a less-rushed day all round. Travelling to the zoo was easy – hopping the North-South line to Khatib and then boarding the $1 shuttle bus to the zoo had us there pretty quickly. The entire complex is currently undergoing significant development (though I didn’t take the time to research what this was for) so expect a lot of construction for the near future. The zoo itself was mostly unaffected by this, and most exhibits operated normally. The habitats were well laid out both for natural simulation as well as easy viewpoints. I think we did one of our biggest ‘ walking ‘ days at the zoo, though there are trams to take you around the park, they only have designated stops which can be a long walk back if you pass something you wanted to see. The zoo itself is a must-see in Singapore in my opinion, though the experience compared to 10 years ago had lost some lustre. I do hope that the development sees great improvement in the overall offering. I have minimal criticisms for the park other than to beware of all the walking (and hills) involved! The lack of a printed map (online maps available for download don’t help when you have no printer – phone navigation was extremely difficult) is probably my only disappointment here as we very nearly missed several key attractions because of multiple diverging paths, so we had to keep re-checking the map for the correct pathway to backtrack to catch the part we missed. The zoo has an on-site KFC situated within a kids zone, featuring farm animals \ petting zoo etc, and a huge splash pad \ tipping bucket area with plenty of space surrounding – which would be critical on a hot & busy day. Singapore Zoo rating – 7.5/10 Universal Studios Singapore We finally got to Universal, despite literally staying across the road from the park, as it is closed midweek as a consequence of covid. Like any good enthusiast, we tried planning as well as we could to be aware of what would be open \ closed, under maintenance etc. We’d figured out we would be missing the Halloween events, though with a 6 year old that was probably for the best, but as far as we could see, everything except the vintage cars in the Mummy land would be operating. We knew the park could be busy and didn’t risk it – we had express passes pre booked from the start. How. Wrong. We. Were. Madagascar On arrival, Crate Adventure was boarded up and being demolished. We knew it was due to start soon, but hadn’t heard they’d already begun. All online park maps still showed it as available, it wasn’t listed on the maintenance page as unavailable, and the first news we had it wasn’t open was when we saw the hoarding (though in-park maps were all modified to cover the ride up). The hoarding around Madagascar land made accessing the carousel a one-way path, and the building it sits in makes it an odd place to get in and out of. The entrance to Far Far Away was likewise closed off, and access by the narrow lakeside pathway only meant the park choked up quickly in this area with a crowd. Far Far Away After Carousel, we moved to Far Far Away and quickly lapped Enchanted Airways a few times while the crowds were low. We moved to Shrek4D only to find it hadn’t opened yet – technical difficulties. Donkey Live was shuttered (another covid casualty), and so we moved onto Puss in Boots – which was also having technical difficulties and wasn’t open yet. We did go back to Far Far Away in the afternoon and got both Shrek and Puss done, and while this is arguably the better Shrek4D, they skipped the entire animatronic pre-show and went straight into the theatres. While one could argue that it was a covid safety measure, we’d all just queued in the enclosed queuehouse for 10 minutes, and then were herded into the enclosed pre-show room for another 10 minutes, before sitting in the theatre for the entire runtime of the show, so surely skipping the pre-show elements wouldn’t have made a difference – just poor show. Puss in Boots was a standout attraction for us all, it was fun, the story was well told and made sense even if you hadn’t seen the film, but unfortunately the outdoor animatronics and characters were all chipped and peeling paint everywhere, so while the ride was fun, it presented very poorly. Waterworld Also not operating. Also due to Covid. Given this was advertised as an included perk on their VIP tour, I felt this was really poor. It wasn’t listed as a closure online and again we only discovered it was closed when we arrived. Jurassic Park Canopy Flyer was a big target for our group as it was something everyone could ride and most hadn’t been on this style of coaster. Back in 2010, the express pass was valid for this, as was a single rider line, however neither of these were available on Canopy Flyer (it is one of the only exceptions to the express pass advertised). Still a great unique attraction, if somewhat too quick for the wait time. The Jurassic spinner was operating at capacity with a full queue, but Jurassic River Rapids was also closed – for long term maintenance of several months (something we also hadn’t seen on the park website prior to our visit, but something clearly known in park as all the maps in park had this attraction blacked out like crate adventure). The land did have a ‘meet blue’ experience for photos and interactions which was pretty cleverly done, but definitely did not make up for the loss of Rapids. Food So far we’ve made it through three lands and I haven’t mentioned food – and that’s because there weren’t many options actually open. The park has several large dining facilities including a huge Jurassic visitors centre, but most were closed. A few carts operated serving very basic cart-style fare, but for meals of substance, choices were mostly limited to Mel’s Diner back at the front of the park. This is, again, another covid casualty. Attrib: Resorts World Sentosa I tried the 'Mel's Rendang Burger' with a Rendang curry mince sauce, which - while messy (and not exactly the best choice of food for a hot day) it was super flavourful and delicious, and would definitely recommend if you don't mind a bit of spice. (Attrib. Entree Kibbles) Egypt We moved onto Egypt, only to find the Vintage cars (the only ride advertised as being closed) was in fact open, so the little guy went and had an adventure while we tackled The Mummy. The fire scene on this attraction is still very impressive, though the lighting and reveal is somewhat spoiled by dim ambient lighting that gives the game away before the showscene triggers. I don’t remember it being like this back in 2010, but heck, it was 12 years ago. The queue is suffering with a lot of damage to the plaster walls, but this is the price you pay having walls so close to bored guests with phones stored in lockers. While in Egypt, a street parade came through with all sorts of characters on a truck \ walking beside, handing out Halloween candy to guests as they passed. This was mini packs of skittles, mentos and other non-melting premium branded candy which I thought was pretty impressive. They did many circuits throughout the day culminating in a main street show at closing time. SciFi City This was my Eleanor (for those who get the reference) – Every opportunity I’ve had at a duelling coaster has been thwarted, including this one when I rode in 2010. The seat hanger incident happened weeks before I arrived last time and in the years since, it had been down every time I’d started to plan a trip. Thank goodness we’d bought express passes because this is where most guests were (in hindsight, starting there would have been smarter, but 6 year old). I found it a bit odd that the entrances and lockers were so far removed from each other, it was quite the journey to get into the queue for this. Metal detectors \ wands were in use (understandable given the ride zooms over major pathways) and we were off. The express pass paid itself off in spades here as people were literally sitting down on the stairs as we zoomed past. Both sides of the ride ran very well and ops did a great job to have dispatch timed well for maximum duel. Unfortunately, the ride’s design was based on the larger, heavier trains, and the differences in the lighter trains showed, with the timing between the two trains out of sync after only the second element. Still a great ride, with Human an enjoyable coaster and Cylon a balls to the wall experience. (I'm sure I don't need to add a stock image of Battlestar.... so here's the view from our hotel!) IMG_4380.MOV We took on Transformers, which the little guy loved, but not much different to the Hollywood version for us. The ride and queue gives definite respite from the heat, so it was surprising more people weren’t riding it. New York We had missed Lights Cameras Action on our first visit so it was great to finally see it in person. The holding area prior to the experience was a bit drab (and hot) and I can only imagine how bad it must be on a busier day, but thankfully the queue was short and not crammed with people. Although we had seen this online the experience wasn’t what we were expecting, but it absolutely wowed the little guy and that’s all that mattered. Another great opportunity to cool off from the heat (and maybe get wet). The sesame street spaghetti chase is also in New York, and while not a big Sesame Street character fan, the little guy also loved this experience. A ‘peter pan’ style attraction, done decently well, with great theming and use of characters. Main Street The main street is a series of merch stores and a couple of quick service food carts, but the choice and variety of merch was fantastic, and we happily spent over half an hour (and a lot more on the credit card) picking up great unique souvenirs from the park. Universal Singapore rating – 6/10. I think this is fair – while the park was still in ‘covid recovery mode’ there were a lot of things they could have achieved for minimal effort (such as updating their websites, given they had custom-made stickers covering the ride closures on the park map). The park could have done a lot more, and I feel that some of what was lacking was done out of convenience – a case of “blame covid, not us” when there really wasn’t an excuse for the current state. Adventure Cove Waterpark We booked a cabana for the day which came with towels, a “safe” made out of plastic, and some chairs with a fan and some other small comforts. It made a great base camp for the day and was close enough to all the action. The Wet Maze was closed (another covid thing) and like Universal, most food options were also closed, with only one major food outlet in the park. They have a sort of ropes course over a pool with water jets and other interactive elements, but this was also closed. View from our Cabana These aquariums were actually part of the Lazy River (Second Photo Resorts World Sentosa) The park’s standout attractions include the lazy river, which circles around the outside of Dolphin Island. Due to the design and layout of the various attractions, the lazy river has two clear Perspex sections as you cross into the ‘Dolphin zone’ which goes over the top of a large drainage canal. These canals are apparently where they store water from various tanks while they are closed for maintenance. The dolphin island section of the lazy river is also home to a small stingray and turtle exhibit, and an ‘underwater’ tunnel with sea life swimming all around you, and you can come face to face with these guys while floating by. The lazy river also has a wave generator (not switched on during our visit) and floats you around the entire park, including some underground sections with small fish tanks embedded in the walls. Some outdoor parts also had animal enclosures next to the path, but these were empty and closed for maintenance. I was amazed at how intermingled everything is in this area - The Dolphin Island attraction is on the right, the lazy river enters bottom right, curves around the stingray exhibit upper left before exiting upper centre. SEA Aquarium was below some parts of these areas. Another highlight for the park was a free-to-use reef snorkel – after a quick briefing, guests rinse under a shower to remove excess chlorine before donning flipper and a snorkel mask to swim in a roughly circular saltwater lagoon home to a massive array of sea life similar to Sea World’s reef snorkelling experience, but the price was the best part. Attrib: Resorts World Sentosa They also have a hydrocoaster style slide, with loading occurring at the bottom (so you get a long, uphill journey lying feet first while staring at the sun) but the ride was damn quick and we caught air on almost every hill. The wave pool was solid, and relentless, making it hard to stay upright if you sat in the shallows. The park had colour coded life jackets available in every size so swimming ability was less of an issue. The one downside to the park is that they are extremely restricted on rider numbers and weights. Many slides needed two riders, minimum heights meant the little guy couldn’t go on very much as most started above 120cm, and maximum combined rider weights meant the two adults couldn’t ride together, but as the little guy was too short, none of us could ride. This left most big slides (except hydrocoaster) unavailable. All in all though, the lazy river made up for this in spades and we spent at least half our time circling the park in a tube with an occasional dunking to cool off when things got too hot. The park had plenty of shelter and shaded path areas to walk on, and while lacking in some variety, the quality of what they had certainly made the day worth it. The restrictions are not park imposed but are a manufacturer requirement, so it isn’t fair to argue that as a fault of the park, although the designers of the park planned this poorly to not have middle-of-the-road options as the other attractions stepped very steeply from a splash pad \ tipping bucket tower, to the big slides with heavy restrictions. A couple of nice body slides might have filled this gap nicely. The theming of the area was great. The park was lush, deep tropical plantings, with faux rockwork caves, statues and other elements. Real sandy beaches entering the lazy river, plenty of life jackets for poor swimmers (there seemed to be a lot who weren’t great swimmers and I guess we’re lucky in Aus to not have this issue) Adventure Cove Waterpark rating: 7.5/10 Sentosa Sentosa Island was celebrating it's 50th birthday Sentosa Island itself has so many different attractions, but this was our itinerary plan so we hit everything on the same day. There is just way too much to do and so this is not an exhaustive list – I’d encourage you if you’re planning a trip to do thorough research on what is available and what appeals to you. Beachside Trams – Sentosa runs a free tram service along the southern edge of the island, stopping at most major attractions and all the southern facing beaches, with the main station directly under the monorail (and right outside Wings of Time), so one can save quite a bit of walking around this way (although the walk is pretty good if it isn’t too hot) Mega Park – Mega Park includes a bunch of attractions under the ‘mega’ banner including the MegaZip line, which goes from one of the tallest points on the island all the way to Siloso Beach. Tandem rides are available for smaller \ lighter riders, and a high maximum weight limit means this attraction can accommodate almost every possible shape and size (but check their website for specifics). We timed this one well, as it was lightly raining in the morning, and the skies absolutely PELTED DOWN as we made our way from the landing zone back across the beach. Other attractions within their group include a high ropes course, a para jump, a rock climbing wall, and a bungee trampoline. Fort Siloso – an historic attraction dating back to the invasion of Singapore, with many historic elements, buildings and stories, this was a great walkthrough, though there are several spots with uneven stairs and steep stair climbs or ramps so anyone with mobility issues may have problems with this. Last time we visited the hills \ ramps were both ways, however Sentosa has since introduced… Fort Siloso Skywalk – An elevated walkway through the tree canopies that takes you from Siloso beach straight up in an elevator to the canopy level, with a flat level walkway offering fantastic views both south over the beaches and north over the mainland and ferry terminals, it was great to not have the uphill walk to reach the fort! Luge – An old favourite from our last trip, the Luge offers four different cement tracks down Imbiah Hill, and two chair lifts to take people back up to the top. The chairlifts and each luge track has on-ride cameras, and these are coded into special RFID chips embedded in your helmets, making it easy to view your photos by scanning your helmet (though do check them after each lap as it ‘forgets’ the photos after a certain time). The whole place has taken a huge step forward since our last visit and is far better organised and safety conscious (though the maze of pathways at the top of the hill leaves something to be desired). Unfortunately for us, the Dragon track (the fastest \ longest \ most advanced of the four) was closed for maintenance and work was visible from the chairlift with large sections of concrete being jackhammered for removal – not an easy feat on the side of a mountain! Sky Helix – A Relatively new experience that only opened December 2021, the tower is situated at the top of Imbiah point, and rises a further 35 metres from the ground for uninterrupted panoramic views. The Sky Helix replaced the Tiger Sky Tower which was a fairly run-of-the-mill observation tower ride with an open air floorless platform. Riders board seats akin to a coaster, and are seatbelted in. Drinks are allowed (including cocktails) and a host controls the attraction from the centre of the gondola, entertaining guests with commentary, comedy and taking photos once you reach the top. This experience was 100% well worth doing as something different and highly recommend. Imbiah Lookout also had a butterfly aviary exhibit (closed and boarded up) and a Madame Tussaud’s in a wartime-era barracks\Hospital building which we skipped after doing Hong Kong’s MT’s and being underwhelmed. Imbiah (and Siloso Beach for the Fort access) can be conveniently accessed from Resorts world by Cable Car – however the cable cars are chargeable per journey and only sell return tickets, so jumping in for the ride up and walking downhill isn’t an option. Having done it once I can definitely recommend you do not try walking up the hill from Resorts World, however the luge chairlifts offer a much cheaper way to the top. Mount Faber Cable Car – We did end up taking the cable car on our second trip – and did both the Sentosa cable car and the mount faber one, which is quite a distance away from Sentosa itself! Mount Faber Cable Car also offers special experiences onboard the cable cars including dining experiences, and while this was interesting for us, neither the website, nor anybody at the ticket counters could tell us what the food options were for children in these experiences (a separate kids menu was mentioned online but no information on what it included) and the only answer we could get was “call this phone number to book and maybe they can tell you” so we opted out of this experience despite building it into our itinerary. The ride itself is nice during the daytime, and not as hot as you’d expect for the climate. Cars were pretty much the same as the Disney World cable cars, so not much else to mention. Resorts World – One could spend days outlining everything available at RWS. Other than the attractions already mentioned, there are a number of hotels, a two level open air shopping district (including food) and a casino. You honestly could spend a week at Resorts World and not see and do everything they have, and they are just one small part of the island. For us, notable was Hard Rock Café, the Candy store and the Lego store. The Sentosa Merlion was under renovations and covered in scaffolding, and a new building was being constructed right next to the RWS cable car \ monorail station. I couldn’t find info on what this is planned to see, so we’ll find out on our next visit I guess. Overall, Sentosa gets a solid 10/10 – not because everything was perfect, but because there was something for everyone to do (if you’re willing to pay for it). There were experiences and hotels for the super rich, but also more budget conscious offerings and plenty of free things to do (or “free with purchase of food\drink”) and you were never far from a nice place to sit and enjoy a coldy with a good view of something – there were countless restaurants and food offerings – the island is really designed as a playground for all ages and it is hard for anyone to be disappointed with their visit. If you plan to do a lot on the ‘mainland’ of Singapore, staying on Sentosa does complicate your travel plans, but if your itinerary is Sentosa-heavy, or primarily intended as a relaxing holiday, then Sentosa really is worth the premium price you’ll pay to stay there. Other Mainland Attractions Raffles – Ok, it’s one of those things you gotta do at least once, right? So a Singapore Sling in the long bar done and dusted. Well overpriced but you get the history and experience. I learned something new about the development of the sling (ladies couldn’t be seen drinking in public apparently) and threw peanut shells on the floor as is tradition. The hotel is the epitome of opulence and stupidly expensive though I’m sure it costs a lot when you’re still making zen gardens out of the sand in the ashtrays, and half your staff are required to be sikhs in high turbans to complete the look. The place wasn’t easy to get to, but we did it, and it’s done. 6.5/10 Gardens by the bay – Wow. This was in development on our last visit and it’s amazing what a country can do when they have a mandate to have greenspace available to every resident. All of the domes are worth the visit individually, the rest of the gardens are worth a full day. We unfortunately only had the best of a rainy afternoon, so we whizzed through as quickly as our eyes could appreciate it. The domes are air conditioned and offer welcome respite from the heat (are you picking up on a theme here?) and all are superbly presented. They were in the process of installing a new Avatar themed element to the cloud forest which should open soon in good time with the sequel. The Supertree show was well done, albeit a little simple in today’s modern intelligent lighting era, but entertaining all the same. We goofed here and didn’t allow enough time to do all the things we wanted and I’ll say it again, allow a full day for gardens by the bay. Beautiful spaces, and I’m envious of those who have this a short drive from their homes – 8.5/10 Singapore Flyer – missed this last visit, made the walk across the bridge from Marina Bay to ride. Singapore was setting up for the formula one while we were there so navigating some of the roads were a little tricky, but got a great view of Pit Straight from the flyer. The attraction is obviously built to handle huge crowds, with miles of queue lines we walked straight past and got on almost straight away. It’s a pleasant trip and a great opportunity (again in the air con) to rest weary feet after walking around all day. Solid 9/10 IMG_4064 (1).MOV Changi Airport \ Jewel – Not many TRs would cover the airport, but there’s a reason why Changi Airport has won over 650 awards (Awards and Accolades | Changi Airport Group) including many ‘best airport in the world’ by numerous outlets, some of which have awarded it multiple times (and in one case, 35 times from 1988-2022!) Changi is made up of four terminals (they just announced they’re building a fifth one) as well as Jewel. You can honestly spend an entire day there (we did) and still not see everything. I’d highly recommend allowing a day to explore Changi if you visit Singapore. Although this isn’t an Airport forum, so I won’t spend too much time here – some of the attractions include: Around the terminals: A ‘Kinetic Rain’ exhibit \ sculpture, featuring dozens of small metal balls attached to small wires, synchronised to raise and lower creating mesmerising patterns in Terminal 1 Numerous gardens and fish \ koi ponds A Transit Hotel, located airside so you can sleep without clearing customs if you have a particularly long layover (or if you want to spend another day exploring the airport!) A butterfly garden A rooftop pool A 3 storey giant slide Movie Theatre ‘Petal Clouds’ another kinetic sculpture across 200 metres of the galleria in Terminal 4 ‘Immersive Wall’ is a 70metre x 5metre LED display showing panoramic vistas of Singapore Kids play areas and tonnes of other things to occupy practically everyone for days Jewel Changi: Glass-bottomed bridge through the canopy Mirror Maze Hedge Maze Topiary walkways Discovery Slides at one of the highest points inside jewel ‘Foggy Bowls’ that kids will love Bouncing Nets Walking nets Petal Gardens All of the above are part of SkyPark and can be experienced by purchasing a single ticket, but individual experiences can be purchased separately. Jewel (continued) Changi Experience Studio (interactive exhibit showcasing airport operations. Shiseido Forest Valley Rain Vortex Jewel also houses YotelAir – another hotel based at the airport, however this is on the landside and you don’t need a boarding pass to stay. Located right inside Jewel, this place positions you well if you plan to spend several days exploring (and you definitely can!) At jewel is a baggage storage company (Smarte Carte) who will store your bags for a fee – however before you pay, check down the hall a bit as there is an early bag drop counter that some airlines (including Qantas) utilise which can save you a bunch in baggage fees and lighten the load so you can explore Jewel and the rest of the terminals unburdened by large suitcases. I think that's it for now. Singapore was one of the first destinations in Asia to open back up and so has a great head-start on tourism. Flights are plentiful and so are the hotels (now) so prices are starting to drop. Not a sponsor, but i'd definitely recommend adding Singapore to your planning the next time you go looking for somewhere overseas to visit.

On a recent trip to Malaysia, I got the chance to visit Genting SkyWorlds, located in the Genting Highlands, north of Kuala Lumpur. To get to the park we took an hours taxi ride (which was only about $25 each way using ‘Grab’, which is Malaysia’s version of Uber) and then a 10 minute gondola ride. The park is about 1.8km above sea level, so despite it being very hot and humid in Kuala Lumpur, it is much much cooler up at the park (so if you visit definitely take a jumper). Before I took about the park, if you’re planning on visiting the park it’s probably worth staying at one of the many hotels in the Genting Highlands. There is so much to see and do up there on top of the theme park. Its owned/operating by Resorts World, the same company that operate Universal Studios Singapore and many of the other activities at Sentosa Island. We arrived at the park for opening and it’s a very grand entrance. You enter from inside the mall and the first thing you see is the fountain with the parks sign and Mad Ramp Peak in the background, a perfect photo op. The weather was perfect and at this point, the crowd level was very low. We decided to make our way around the park in an anti-clockwise direction, starting with Rio. We’re big fans of Rio, so I was very excited to the film come to life in a theme park land and it did not disappoint. The whole land was very well themed, with Carnivale music played throughout the whole lane and for us it was pure joy. The main attraction for the area is Samba Gliders, a Setpoint Swing Thing suspended coaster, with each gondola seating four people (two facing forward, two facing backwards). The queue was very well themed and provides a great outlook over the land (as the station is on the second level). We went on it twice so we could ride it in both directions and facing forward was a lot more enjoyable. The ride was relatively comfortable as it was lap bar restraints, but I just found see where you were going to be a more enjoyable experience. The land also featured a carousel and a Zamperla Demolition Derby. Next up with ‘Epic’, an animated film based around little people living in your garden. This land featured a Zierer Flying Gondola and the main attraction, an indoor flume ride. A side note to make here for those who don’t know, Genting SkyWorlds is actually constructed over multiple levels. Nearly all of the indoor rides are actually located underground, creating more usable space to fit more attractions. So for this flume ride, it does something rather unconventional. You enter the well themed queue and station on ground level, board your boat and then the main drop is actually first. You then make your way through the flume ride and then the lift hill is at the end, with a very small drop. The rides story is a shortened version of the movie, however it tells the story well and uses a mix between practical sets, animatronics and screens. It’s not at a Disney level, but it’s been executed very well. Next up was Ice Age, the biggest and most popular land in the park. It features a flat ride, stage show, trackless dark ride and mine train style coaster. The trackless dark ride, Ice Age: Expedition Thin Ice, was okay. There was no wait for this one, but this queue was one of the longest queues I’ve ever walked through. It took us about 7 minutes to get the loading area and the ride only last 3-4 minutes. And it was a bit underwhelming. It’s more kid focused, but the story did feel well thought through, there were a couple practical sets, but it was mostly screens. The coaster, Acorn Adventure was manufactured by Beijing Shibaolai Mine Train, making this my first ever coaster by a Chinese manufacturer. The queue was very well done (as all of the rides at this park are), the layout was a lot of fun, with a large helix wrapping around a waterfall. However, this thing was very rough and uncomfortable. It really throws you around, the seats aren’t comfortable and this was my first time riding a coaster with shin guards? Why are they there when it’s a sit down coaster? After this we ate at Bucks Cafe, which has a wide variety of grab n go style food and as its Malaysia, very well priced. The next land was Andromeda Base, which features Seprent Slayer, Batwing Spaceshot and Sky Climb (Sea World throwback). We didn’t go on any of these, but once again, well themed. This land does also feature a Dynamic Attractions SFX Coaster and it does look to be complete, however it’s been listed as ‘under construction/future attraction’ since the park opened. And by the state of the ride from what you can see, if it does ever open, it’s got a lot of work that needs to be done. Since we visited, it’s actually been removed as a future attraction from the parks website and is greyed out on the park maps. So this makes me think we might not ever see this ride come to life, however the parks lineup of attraction needs that one big hero coaster, so I hope they get it going or build something that they can actually get operating. Next is a throwback to the 2005 animated movie Robots. This was the parks smallest land with only two rides, which are actually stacked on top of each other. They were flat rides that didn’t interest us, but they were very well executed. Liberty Lane is their San Francisco land that is more of a themed pathway that connects two large lands, however for me, this land contained the parks standout attraction. Invasion of the Planet of the Apes is a 3D trackless dark ride. The queue was one of the most immersive and well themed queues I’ve ever been in. It was very well detailed and featured a pre-ride show to set up the storyline. The vehicles were similar to the style of transformers/spider-man at universal parks and you went through rooms that featured large practical sets and screens. The story was really well done and I was totally immersed into it. At the end it does feel like it needed one more scene as it felt like the ride abruptly ended, but otherwise I loved it. The final rides we went on were in Central Park, with there being an Aerobat, Independence Day: Defiance (flying theatre) and Night at the Museum: Midnight Mayhem (shooting dark ride). The flying theatre caught me off guard with how much I enjoyed it. The screen covered a lot more area so when riding, you couldn’t actually see the edge, making it much more immersive. The story was pretty good and made good use of the flying theatre aspect of the ride. Definitely worth checking out. And finally, the shooting dark ride had a very well themed queue, really well detailed and felt like you were in a museum. The ride itself however was fine, just a typical dark right with little to no theming between the screens. There is one more land, Eagle Mountain, however this land just contains one attraction, which is also coming soon. ‘Mad Ramp Peak - Full Throttle Racing’ is a Dynamic Attractions Duel Power Coaster that looks like it will be a lot of fun. The attraction is very well themed, with heaps of rock work and waterfalls throughout its layout. This attraction/land can be seen very all corners of the park and will make a massive difference to the park and offer something unique and thrilling. This is said to be opening this year, so hopefully it does because I think it will elevate the park and put it on the map for a lot of people who aren’t sure if it’s worth the visit. In general, the crowd levels were pretty low with a maximum wait of 20 minutes for rides, but most only had a 5-10 minute wait. There were also quite a few other food outlets and stores throughout the park that all offered something different. You can definitely tell the park hasn’t yet got the crowds they were hoping for because all of the merch was on a heavily discounted sale (and it was all of good quality). I definitely recommend visiting this park if you’re in Malaysia, especially once Mad Ramp Peak is open. And as a comparison because I know a few people on here have been to USS (which I’ve been too twice), I preferred this park. For my final score, I’d give Genting SkyWorlds an 8/10.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinereid/2023/03/22/leading-disney-ride-manufacturer-puts-itself-up-for-sale/?sh=adfa66640ea0 For those interested in knowing more about the park and the timeline of its construction and BTS images theres a great thread here on ThemeParkX. Was the large alien animatronic/preshow working on your visit? I was very disappointed it wasn't during my visit in October. I've visited the park twice now on 2 different trips and have to agree with most of your thoughts. Would also highly recommend the VIP experience for the extra $70ish on top of general entry.

Regarding those unopened coasters, from what i can gather, dynamic attractions went way over budget building them (and mission ferrari at Ferrari world) which led them into bankruptcy. It also doesn't help that Disney cancelled the ip that Genting wanted to use for them requiring a complete retheme. Im sure there'll be some sort of legal proceedings going on behind closed doors, and no one is going to want to come in and finish the project until thats finalised, especially without access to Dynamic's unique product patents.

Maybe JL's maintenance period is so it can be changed over to that 😉 But the joke was it would be full time and not just Fright Nights. Maybe for Doomsday/Showcase replacement they should make their own Fantasyland based on that and the other films in the universe (there is going to be a cinematic universe for some reason). If Disney wont let Movie World use their characters then MW could license the horror versions. Fun for the whole family! I'm sure the kids wont notice the difference. /s

Magic Kingdom - Walt Disney World https://www.parkz.com.au/attraction/magic-kingdom I actually kicked off my 3 days at WDW at Magic Kingdom. Plenty of new stuff to see. Things are a bit more high tech at Disney these days, you can load your ticket into google wallet and tap in at the entrances, entering Lightning Lanes (the new name for fast pass) , and the app is pretty comprehensive in terms of being able to check wait times and order food, and credit to them this aspect is all very tight. The more recent points of contention is Genie Plus and Lightning Lanes and Boarding Groups for certain attractions. Basically, fast pass is no longer free, that's an extra cost to use per day, and the service is branded through the app "Genie Plus" I did without it on 2 of my 3 days since crowds seemed light enough and I could game single rider a bit. I swear though they inflate wait times to encourage people to use it. On certain rides you can also pay to skip the line on a one shot basis and enter via the Lighting Lane, and well, I ended up doing this for Tron and 7 Dwarves mine train, more on them later. And finally, boarding groups. At the time of my visit, due to their newness and popularity, Tron and Guardians (At EPCOT) both require you to go into a ballot for a time to board the ride. They do one drop at 7am, and another at 1pm. It does make it a little stressful because who wants to come all that way to ride the new stuff and have it come down to luck. Personally I think they should still offer standby. If someone wants to wait 2-3 hours to ride the new thing, more power to em! I did witness a couple of people at the entrance who were not familiar with the system a bit annoyed about being unable to ride and the complexity of it. But it turned out not to be a worry. If you are on the app at 7am and refresh as soon as the clock ticks over, you can pretty easily end up with a timeslot to ride in the morning. Despite this, I still also bought a one shot lighting lane for tron just because I wanted a guaranteed re-ride. I rocked up early: I had a plan to rope drop Seven Dwarves Mine Train, but it was broken down so I started on Goofys Barnstormer Standard vekoma roller skater but the theming is really really well done. In fact, I had never ventured into the whole circus area before, but I loved it. Under the Sea - Journey of The Little Mermaid Also new to me. An omnimover dark ride with some really detailed theming right from the start. The beginning is pretty cool, with Scuttle the seagull trying to explain Airels story in a confused manner, before your ride vehicle goes downhill and 'under the sea', with projectors used on the walls to create a sense of dropping below the waterline. The ride is fun and colourful, with a huge scene of fishes dancing to "Under the Sea". The ride kind of skips over the whole epic battle with Ursula and just has Ariel transitioning to human and getting married to Prince Eric. Very well done, and I can imagine kids would find it magical. A certain foodstuff I had wanted to try was LeFous brew from Gastons Tavern. It's basically frozen apple juice, topped with passionfruit foam, which was the most tart thing ever, it was like straight passionfruit cordial mixed with wizzfiz or something. With some time to kill until my TRON timeslot I reacquainted myself with Space Mountain. I still reckon the HK/DL/DLP versions are better, just lacks something without the music IMHO. The layout is a little tighter on the MK version and feels like a wild mouse. The exit route has way more theming than my last visit, with various cheesy displays of futurism. Finally it was time for TRON Lightcycle Run. The scale of this ride is enormous, with a huge canopy and broad elevated walkways leading to the entrance, with trains thundering overhead regularly. Once you get inside its a whole bunch of black corridors with neons and backlit graphics. The coolest feature however is a little preshow room with switchable glass with a projection. After a bit of fluff about being "scanned into the world of Tron", the glass turns transparent, revealing the trains launching below and some seriously cool looking theming. The double sided locker system works well, and has hundreds of bays. The trains have you hunkering down a lot more compared to your average straddle coaster, it's practically like being on a flying coaster. Some people have commented the ride is 'short' but its 1km long. I think what happens is people mentally dont count the outdoor section, and focus only on the indoor part. The indoor part is pretty cool, with you racing through glowing checkpoints, plus the occasional wall projection of other lightcycles racing against you. One thing that sets it apart from other indoor coasters is the turns are a lot larger and more sweeping. It's not like they have tried to cram a spaghetti of track into a box, its more like a full sized launch coaster that happens to be in a building. Impressive ride! No sign of Seven Dwarves being open on the app so I decided to try a few other tomorrowland attractions I've never done. First Astro Orbiter, which offers some great elevated views over the land. Then Peoplemover, which also offers moderately elevated views, interspersed with a few little dark ride scenes with a bit of a silly space age feel to them all. I had never done Carousel of Progress so gave this one a spin too. It's a rotating theatre, and during the show you stop in front of animatronic dioramas of a family in the 1900s, the 1920s, 1940s and so on, with the patriarch of the family talking all about all the latest and greatest developments in the world, eg the 1920s talked about how you could travel coast to coast by train, and how Babe Ruth was hitting home runs, and how their house now had brand new electric lights. And then you get to the 2000s bit and it was like 1990s mixed with back to the future. At that point it was time for my paid re-ride on Tron. First ride was in the back, so I took the front this time (It's never a long wait to request a front seat at Disney I find) Back is better if you want to see all the projections on the wall and more of the theming, but front is better if you want to stick your hands out and pretend to fly and feel the wind. What other new stuff was there for me to see. Never had done Country Bear Jamboree so that was a must. Loved this detail on the floor of the foyer. The show takes the piss out of rednecks, with the bears in the show singing drunkenly, having buck teeth, and even alluding to dressing in morally questionable (For the 1900s) mannee. Entertaining, I imagine the local audience would probably get more out of the stereotypes. When It came time to ride Big Thunder Mountain it started raining heavily. Fortunately the queue is all undercover, and they have added various themed interactive things in the queue, like Zeotropes, and fresh air monitors with displeased canaires inside. And yeah, Big Thunder running in the wet rocks! Swung by the conversion of Splash Mountain into Tianas Bayou Adventure. Enchanted Tiki Room was up next (Geez Im having a passive day!), a colourful animatronic show with four main singing birds, each with a stereotypical accent (French, German, Spanish, Irish), plus hordes of other birds that are lowered up and down from the ceiling for duets and choral sets. Its funny how times change, at the time it opened people were mesmerised by singing birds, but I guess today it feels like a room full of those novelty singing birds you get a tobacconist/gift shop. The sets are beautiful though, and the actual lyrics and storyline are entertaining. Swiss Family Treehouse is always worth a stroll through. And I couldn't pass up a ride on Pirates of the Caribbean, still the benchmark in terms of being the most immersive classic Disney ride IMHO. At this point, Seven Dwarves was still not open, and they had even put out a push notification to everyone apologising for the extended downtime. Another food I wanted to try was in Adventureland, Cheeseburger and Pizza Spring rolls (You get one of each). Still wish our parks had more gimmicky snacks like this on rotation. A total surprise to me was discovering they had a Christmas overlay of Jungle Cruise called Jingle Cruise. Most of the fun of it seems to come in the form of extra christmas theming in the queue with a tropical twist. During the ride itself, the jokes are just as corny, but of course with Christmas related puns. Further Christmas decorations on the way too At that point in the day I realised there was one other attraction on my hit list I had wanted to check out, Enchanted Tales with Belle. I was thinking it was more of a walkthrough, and it has a little bit of that, but by and large its a kids meet n greet that has a fancy beginning and some cool animatronics. The main thing I wanted to see was the magic mirror effect they have, which appears to magically grow larger on the wall in front of you and open up to reveal a direct portal into the Beauty and the Beast castle that you walk through. It's a pretty cool trick how they achieve it, and there are YT videos showing how they do it, so I wont spoil it. Surprised this hasn't been used on other attractions. Once you get inside they have a talking wardrobe, and most impresive, lumiere the candle, with actual moving flames on his 'arms', which fully move and gesture as he talks. But yeah other than that they get the kids up front and give them cardboard cut outs to 'act out' a scene from Beauty and the Beast, and then Belle turns up and meets the kids, so yeah not really worth it unless you have young kids. But, finally, Seven Dwarves Mine Train opened...And I was still stuck in this thing! The wait times were already building up, so I bit the bullet and paid for another lighting lane to get on it. Good Thing I did when I arrived at the entrance, the standby wait time had blown out past 90 mins, and even the lightning lane entrance was backed up. This ride has intrigued me since it has swinging cars just like Orphan Rocker at Scenic World, so it was good to get a glimpse at what it would have been like. Actually great fun, and the theming is really detailed, particularly halfway through where you go into the gem mine and all the dwarves are singing 'hi ho hi ho its off to work we go', with full projection mapped faces on each one of them, and lighting effects from all the glowing gems. The cars do actually get a a decent swing going 2 or 3 times during the run. I was expecting Disneyfied toned down intensity, but nah this was good! And I think that's all I did. I was still a bit jetlagged so felt there was a high risk of falling asleep If i did something like Small World, so park hopped to somewhere a little more energetic..... Did you know the streak down the middle of the street Liberty Square is meant to represent raw sewage of the olden days.

Moana 4D confirmed? credit to the VTP execs getting Disney on board

Disney's Animal Kingdom https://www.parkz.com.au/attraction/disneys-animal-kingdom Back to Disney, this time Disney's Animal Kingdom. I ended up heading here in the late afternoon on a couple of my days at WDW. I've been here before and it doesn't necessarily take a huge amount of time to see the park regardless. For the time that I had I didn't really take an issue with skipping over Kilimanjaro Safaris and Kali River Rapids for example. Of course, my main target was Pandora - The World of Avatar. You can spend ages wandering around and admiring the detailed theming. Here is when it really pays to visit in the evening, since you can enjoy the land after dark where it really puts it's lippy on. Satu'li Canteen probably has the best food in the parks too: I started off with Flight of Passage, a ride known for its huge queues, but somehow I was through in 30 mins! The queue is well themed from start to finish. In particular the avatar research lab has a massive amount of detail, right down to seemingly living blobs that move around inside their containers. And of course an avatar in a tank that is kicking and moving as it floats in its sleep. A long preshow explains the whole concept for those who don't know much about the Avatar universe. Basically Pandora is an alien planet inhabitied by the Na'vi. They have bred clones of the Na'vi called "avatars" that humans can control via a neural link, allowing humans to better explore Pandora.... ...and even take part in riding on Banshees, a flying creature that Na'vi ride for fun. The ride is like a much more intense version of a flying theatre. There's no gentle soaring over landscapes here. You are wearing 3D glasses, and diving, twisting and moving quite aggressively the whole time, apart from a brief breather halfway through where you stop in a cave and those little flying jellyfish spore things land on you. Felt on par to me to those simulated flying sequences on Harry Potter and the forbidden journey. The rows of seats are even able to drop a few meters, allowing for actual freefall moments during the ride! And the graphics are spectacular, and very colourful. The seat looks a bit like a Zamperla Disko seat, with some extra vibrating seat pads, and even some inflating air bags to give the feeling the banshee you are riding is breathing. A great trick is done to transition you into the ride film. Your seat has tiny little led strobes that flicker right in your eyes, and as they do this they quickly open the door in front of your seats, play some more flickering lights on the dome screen and then wham, you 'wake up' in the world of Pandora. Na'vi River Cruise is the other attraction. Suprisingly this thing had a longer wait whenever I looked. It's a pleasant well themed dark boat ride through scenes from Pandora. But I guess the thing for me was, the ride scenes and theming are just like what you have already seen out in the main park, with the difference of a few screens showing animals scurrying around and some additional moving things overhead. Though it does come good in the end with a dancing singing Na'vi priest lady. And the queue is quite beautiful, seemingly built by the Na'vi, and full of artefacts. As for the rest of the park. Harambe Marketplace is food district the park opened. Again, the food here is great if you actually want something proper with a bit of flavour. I think i had some Chicken flatbread thing with tahini. They certainly got the developing country vibe right, love the meta copyright infringement. Expedition Everest is fun as always, and quite pleasant at sunset. Dinosaur is a motion based dark ride with exactly the same layout as Indiana Jones, but something about it doesn't click for me. I think it's because is so homogenous from start to finish. You are riding around in a jeep in a dark jungle looking for a particular dinosaur just before the asteroid wipes out the dinosaurs. But it's the same thing the whole way through. Twist and turn then stop, the onboard computer IDs a dinosaur next to the track, nope its not that one, twist and turn some more, another dinosaur, nope not that one either, etc etc repeat that for most of the ride. It eventually reaches a crescendo at the end. You know how on Indinana jones you dive underneath a boulder. On this one you dive under a giant T-Rex head that lunges at you (Clearly inspired by the ending of Jurrassic Park River Adventure!) They took out the Spinning Coasters, but they still have that Dinorama area. The gift shop is worth a look for how zany it is inside. Tough to Be a Bug I did for old times sake, and because the posters in the waiting area is funny. The show is presented like a cabaret of different bugs on stage. Creative use of 4D effects in the cinema, with stink bugs and poisonous bugs shooting at you, and even ones that sting. The other ride I had wanted to do (I've managed to miss on previous visits) is the wildlife express train, but it closes quite early in the afternoon. Ah well, guess I'll ride it in a few years time. And thats Animal Kingdom.

I agree that area deserves something better than a Surfrider - or an Intamin twin hammer - but making the best out of a bad situation would be, imo, throwing in the towel with Doomsday and putting the Surfrider there because: a) You need an attraction semi reliably running in your (debatably) most well themed area to justify its build cost. b) It gives people a reason to go down that end of the park (since Scooby has gone down) other than solely as a thoroughfare to WWF, decongesting the front of the park (and feel free to correct me if i'm wrong but i think there's a whole 'the further you walk, the longer you stay, the more you spend' thing Disney believe in). If the Flash was a long planned installation then yes, the helix is a better place to put it, but given the context of both Scooby and Doomsday's non operation, and as purely a filler, I believe that area of the park would be much better for the 'new' installation.

I just found this article from the Financial Review from November 2023, that hasn't been shared on Parkz yet. The article mainly talks about the history of the Kirby family's involvement in Village Roadshow and the ups and downs of it, but also talk about the parks near the end, which include some interesting details. Hidden behind Movie World on the Gold Coast is a low-rise office block painted in a shade of cream that gives a whiff of the 1990s. Inside the boardroom sit Robert and Clark Kirby, father and son, the third and fourth generations of a family who built the most successful entertainment company Australia has ever seen. Village Roadshow dominated the box office and the TV ratings for decades. Its hits included The Wiggles, Skippy, Mad Max, Bananas in Pyjamas, Brides of Christ, Priscilla: Queen of the Desert and Muriel’s Wedding. The company ran film studios, drives-ins, cinemas and theme parks. It produced VHS tapes, board games and CDs, and was early to bankroll FM radio. With cinemas and video distribution across Asia, Europe and the United States, Village snaked around the globe. It co-produced Hollywood blockbusters like The Matrix and bought theme parks from Hawaii to Hainan. Clark Kirby at Movie World: “We are by far the dominant force in the theme park industry here in Australia.“. Louie Douvis That dominance, which traces its origins back to the 1930s, is no more. A family fight turned into one of the nation’s most compelling boardroom battles as John Kirby carried out a sustained campaign against Robert – the company’s chairman and his brother. It sent the once publicly listed Village Roadshow private. Away from the spotlight, it shrugged off its gargantuan international ambitions to focus on Australian cinemas and theme parks such as Movie World on Queensland’s Gold Coast, a destination for ageing tour buses ambling off the Pacific Motorway. But this is not the Kirbys’ final act. Robert and Clark are speaking for the first time in depth about the family strain and the roller coaster ride that followed. They’re even talking about how the next generation might get involved, which would make the Kirbys unique in the upper echelons of Australian business – a family who’ve held on through five generations. “Wanna go see a theme park?” asks Clark. With tile-white teeth and voluminous black hair, the CEO of Village Roadshow is animated in real life. As we walk from the office behind film sets and into the park it’s a different world, heaving with school holiday traffic. Teens slurping snow cones dart in front of red-faced parents carrying inflatable carnival prizes. Tiny girls in tutus collapse in giggles after Superman throws a wave. Car revs fill the air from the Hollywood Stunt Driver 2 show running nearby. Clark Kirby on the cover of the December 2023 issue. Louie Douvis As Clark poses for The Australian Financial Review Magazine’s photographer, it’s clear this is not his first rodeo in front of a camera. Indeed, he seems disappointed at how tame the requested poses are. Not many CEOs want to appear in advertisements for their own company but Clark, 44, isn’t like most CEOs. He’s been made up as a zombie for Movie World’s “fright nights”, has been photographed on roller coasters and at one point was stopped by his own staff, for occupational health and safety reasons, from bungy-jumping for a photo op. His wife, Sara – a former Saturday Disney host and Seven News weather presenter – and three daughters fronted the company’s promos when the parks reopened following COVID. “He’s our Walt Disney,” says his father, Robert, who’s joined us on the Movie World tour, having just flown up from his Melbourne base. By now we’re standing next to the Looney Tunes Carousel, with Roadrunner, Marvin the Martian and a turban-wearing Bugs Bunny spinning round and round. With his cartoon-like Colgate shine, angular silver eyebrows and gregarious nature, Robert could almost blend in. Aged 72, he is training for his fifth marathon in two years. “He’ll take you through it in great detail, if you’d like,” says Clark, butting in as his dad explains he’s been measuring his heart rate since the mid-80s. He wears two smartwatches and listens to his arteries via a chest strap. Clark might not be in the same league as America’s most famous animator and entrepreneur, but he has reason to smile. Against the odds, a Kirby comeback is under way. They now own a smaller stake in the business – 22 per cent down from 42 per cent when it was publicly listed – but they say it has turned a corner. “We have evolved, shaped and steered the development of the entertainment industry in this country,” says the grandson of Village’s founder, Roc Kirby, and potentially the heir to the empire, depending on the next move by BGH, the private equity firm that owns 78 per cent. “[Now] as we come out of COVID, our focus is on the experiential component of entertainment, and it has never been more important.” Village’s Gold Coast theme parks – Warner Bros. Movie World, Sea World, Paradise Country and Wet’n’Wild – are benefiting from the wave of post-COVID revenge spending as tourists stream in. A day pass costs $105 and earnings are up 50 per cent on pre-COVID years, Clark says. Their resurgence comes as the stock of the company’s major competitor, Ardent Leisure, is down 25 per cent so far this year and shareholders are agitating for change. Globally, theme parks are enjoying quite the ride. Disneyland has pledged to spend $60 billion over the next 10 years to expand its parks – and so far there are no plans for an Australian park. “We are,” says Clark, “by far the dominant force in the theme park industry here in Australia.” And investors agree – Village Roadshow’s theme parks are in a league of their own. Says Christopher Mittleman, chief investment officer of former Village shareholder Mittleman, from New York: “Even though it’s not Disney World, it is probably the closest thing you’ve got to it over there. And Disney World itself is probably not a looming threat because the market’s a bit small for them to build one over there.” If there ever was a Walt Disney of Australia, it’s arguably Robert and John’s father, Roc. He didn’t start the family business – his father, George, had gotten into cinemas in the 1930s after a fire at their dairy farm – but he is central to the Village story. In the Second World War, he was tasked with becoming a radio operator in Papua New Guinea. Aged 23 at the time, his technical skills learnt from operating projectors in the cinema led him to dip behind enemy lines to report on the positions of the Japanese imperial army as well as intercept enemy transmissions as part of the secretive Australian special wireless group. “He worked behind the lines . . . and called in the air strikes,” Robert says. “He’d have five to 10 minutes to get out because they would just zero in on the radio contact points, and storm in, and they were never more than 100 to 200 yards away from the Japanese.” Encased in tropical heat and surrounded by malaria-carrying mosquitoes, the allied soldiers dreamed of the movies. Roc came back from New Guinea determined to set up a “drive in” just like his American soldier friends had described during their downtime. Once back in Melbourne, he set about convincing the local council as well as his father, who derided the plan as “pictures in a paddock”. But Village’s cinemas grew and grew. Robert and John joined the business when they were seven, selling lollies. “Everyone works in the cinema once you get to a certain age,” Robert says. Joining them in the business was Graham Burke, who began working at Village as a ticket collector and cleaner when he was 14. He became so close to the family he was known as the cinema mogul’s adopted son. In 1971, Village formed what would become one of the company’s most lucrative partnerships: a deal with Warner Brothers to distribute its movies in Australia. Burke, who was known for his frequent trips to Hollywood, was the driving force behind the move, according to Milt Barlow, a former Village executive who counts his time there as a career highlight. “Graham probably spoke to Warner Brothers four times a day,” he says. After Roc retired in 1988 – when the company listed on the ASX – the brothers and Burke, now CEO, expanded the business into a sprawling entertainment conglomerate, each man taking a different segment. “John was more heavily involved in the radio stations, and Rob more in home entertainment while Graham lived, ate and breathed movies,” says Barlow. They had uncanny luck in predicting shifts in technology. Roc always thought cinemas would remain king, but Robert was convinced that many would prefer to watch films at home. “The story goes that Robert was given $1 million to lose, sent to Sydney to do this silly thing called Roadshow Home Video and he very quickly made that very successful,” says Barlow. At times, it felt like Village’s executives had golden fingers. The company took a chance on a hybrid video board game called Nightmare. It was a cult success that went global, selling hundreds of thousands of units a year. Village also got lucky with Darren Hayes and Daniel Jones’ pop duo, Savage Garden. They were the only label to agree to the royalty deal demanded by notoriously tough agent John Woodruff; it was around double the rate record companies were paying at the time. But it paid off when the band pulled in millions of dollars. Robert Kirby: “My grandchildren would love to take over our jobs.” Louie Douvis “It was a decade where we grew the company into all sorts of areas – it was a glory time,” Barlow says. And everyone wanted a piece. Some of Australia’s wealthiest families bought Village stock; the Libermans and the Packers. Roc vaulted up the Rich List; Burke and his two sons became the highest-paid entertainment executives in Australia. They drove headlines with plans to buy Channel Seven and declarations that they would soon make as much money in Asia as Australia. Their dress matched the way they talked – Burke was fond of oversized glasses, John wore cowboy boots. They were a vertically integrated behemoth, with the ability to produce a film, shoot it in their part-owned studios and distribute it through their home video outlets and cinemas (and even get a cut of the popcorn). In 2011, Village Roadshow decided to sell out of its radio assets, which it had owned since the early 1980s when it was an original investor in Sydney’s 2Day FM, one of Australia’s first FM radio stations. “We are just circus folks,” said Burke at the time. “Our focus is on pure entertainment businesses. We’re not interested in anything more high-falutin’ than that.” It was a sign of what was to come. It was Village Roadshow’s rocky road to privatisation that truly wrote the family into Australian corporate lore. In some ways, the pain started with the horrific accident that killed four people on the Thunder River Rapids Ride at Ardent Leisure’s Dreamworld in October 2016, just up the road from Movie World. The tragedy, and Ardent’s poor handling of the aftermath, became a national scandal, and attendances at theme parks everywhere, including those owned by Village, began to fall. In the next few years, Village’s share price spiralled, and eventually the company paused dividends. The year 2018 was an exceptionally bad one. The share price dropped to just $1.77 in July, after nudging above $8 four years earlier, and it struggled under a heavy debt load. Village sold Wet’n’Wild Sydney – which it had spent more than $100 million building up – for just $40 million, and conducted a controversial capital raise. John became fed up. Even though he was a co-founder and had a holding equal to both his brother and Burke, he was no longer a salaried executive, having stepped back after the sale of the radio assets. Since Burke and Robert were aligned on the company’s strategy, John had lost control. As the company shed hundreds of millions in market capitalisation, John launched an all-out offensive, pointing out high salaries and raising questions over related party transactions such as Village buying wine from Robert’s vineyard, and swimwear from a business owned by Burke’s daughter. John wanted his brother to step down as chair and Burke to step down as CEO, and hired a bevy of corporate advisers, including former Rothschild investment bank boss David Kingston and legal firm Arnold Bloch Leibler. The battle for Village exploded into the public arena. At the company’s 2018 annual general meeting, Kingston described Village as the “dunce of the class”. The internal feud came as the streaming revolution arrived, displacing Village. “I can remember Graham saying the internet is for email and accountants, people are never going to watch movies on the internet,” says Barlow, hurrying to add that he saw Burke as a “giant” in the industry. A line was drawn under the affair in 2020 when the business was sold. Several private equity firms were interested, but the disruption of COVID meant that BGH was the last bidder standing and took just over three quarters for $586 million. “I am bitterly disappointed,” Mittleman said at the time, adding that smaller shareholders felt “ripped off” at what he thought amounted to a fire sale in the midst of the pandemic. “[This was a] disgraceful affair for all who facilitated it.” The rest of the company was left for Burke, Robert and John. Clark, who had been working as an investment banker at UBS, was appointed as CEO. “I don’t think BGH particularly wanted the Kirbys’ involvement but I think it was probably what massaged the deal across the line,” says one person familiar with the events. John Kirby (left), Robert Kirby and Graham Burke at Movie World for an AGM in 1995. Robert Rough Reflecting on the deal, Robert says BGH was a natural choice, having known the firm’s founding partner, Ben Gray, for more than a decade. “We have a long family history over the years, a long friendly history,” he says. And the Kirbys were never going to sell out entirely from the business that’s their legacy. “The fact is BGH bought in because of our management, we pitched the concept to them, they bought in . . . not immodestly, because of us,” says Clark. “[But] I have hurdles I have to hit as part of my employment, it’s in my contract.” Robert still rankles at the suggestion that the company was run off the rails and denies Village’s privatisation was inevitable. Instead, he says, it was caused by “dark clouds” generated by the media. “We were never under the threat of banks,” he says. “We still and always did have the alternative to continue as a public company and for the family to have that totality [of control]. Now we share that control with BGH.” Clark concedes the episode put the family under enormous pressure. “I certainly felt it myself, in terms of what is the future direction for this business,” he says. John and Robert Kirby in 1998. Robert Rough Like his father, Clark is dismissive of claims the company was poorly run. “It was great newspaper fodder at that time because we’re an entertainment company,” he says. Adds Robert: “There was just a lot of misinformation and innuendo and headlines and sensationalism that, I think, was wildly inaccurate.” And what of relations with John, who – along with Burke –  declined to be interviewed for this story? Like an experienced improv performer, Robert weaves and dodges when he’s asked about his relationship with his brother. Eventually conceding to answer, he proclaims the dispute affected everyone else more than it ever affected him. “John Kirby and I, well before any . . . dispute became public, we do live separate lives. And I have to say, that’s continued,” Robert says, eyebrows resettling. “But right now, John and Graham and I are very contented, happy shareholders in what is the new privatised Village Roadshow.” Three years on, the Kirbys are still in the process of lowering their heart rates. Before first light on the Gold Coast’s lush hinterland where he lives, Clark submerges daily in an ice bath, identical to the one he bought his father. The two sleep so well these days, they compete via their matching Oura rings. “I certainly have enjoyed being a private company a lot more than a public company,” Clark says. Talking to father and son, it’s almost as if in the Kirbys’ minds, BGH’s role as owner is one of backstage hands. “Murdoch does not even own 51 per cent of News Corp,” says Robert, who refers to his private equity backers as “partners”. BGH has three directors on the six-person board, one of which is Ben Gray, who sealed the deal and closely follows the company’s moves. Since the takeover, the company has a new head of its cinema division, a new finance director and a new company lawyer. “There’s been pretty significant changes to the management structure since BGH took over,” a person with knowledge of the company says. And yet still, there are vestiges of what was always a family business. “Whether it be a public company, whether it’s a private equity vehicle, we’re still seen at our heart as a family company,” Clark says. Village Roadshow is now doing a debt raise and restructure after it was left with an eclectic set of lenders, such as the Bank of India, in the lead-up to the privitisation. Clark tries to stop Robert discussing it, saying it’s confidential, but he’s brushed away. “We have the opportunity to find more debt facilities for both the opportunity to fund our future growth and secondly . . . potentially make a capital distribution to shareholders,” Robert says as Clark looks on, exasperated. Clark Kirby: “It was great newspaper fodder at that time because we’re an entertainment company.” Louie Douvis The parks have allowed the Kirbys to pull a rabbit out of a hat. Village has just finished a major renovation of Sea World to install The New Atlantis, an extensive precinct with a wooden roller coaster. Tens of millions are now being spent on a vast Wizard of Oz zone at Movie World, which Robert says will have a value of $100 million. It’s due to open in 2024. More hotels will follow, incorporating elements from the theme parks into the rooms and surrounds. They will offer, Clark says, “a truly immersive experience”. The cinema division, which operates in partnership with Alan Rydge’s Event Cinemas, comes up less in conversation. Rydge and the Kirbys have a long history; Rydge was a shareholder in the private vehicle, which in turn held a majority of the listed Village Roadshow. “There is some alignment between Melbourne people,” one person close to the families says. Clark says the premiumisation of their cinemas is “incredibly important” and argues streaming services have failed when only releasing movies via their own websites. “The pandemic proved once and for all that it’s far more valuable to release in cinemas than just on a streaming service,” he says. But post-COVID, cinemas are struggling outside of blockbusters such as Barbie. Wang Jianlin, the Chinese entertainment billionaire, has been trying to sell his Hoyts chain in Australia, but turned down a $700 million offer earlier this year and failed to get his $1 billion asking price, according to people familiar. The deal rumour mill is already swirling about whether BGH has a shorter timeline for hanging onto Village’s cinemas. “The general consensus is that theatres are ... in secular decline,” Mittleman says. Were there to be a sale, he says owners of Village may be thinking that they would have a “better chance of getting a fair value in the public markets when you’re not tainted by a lower-margin, lower-growth type of business” such as the cinemas. The Kirbys are aware the clock is ticking. “[BGH] want to continue to see growth in the [overall] business,” Clark says. “Yes, they will want to monetise their investment at some point. We expect that within the next three to five years.” When Packer’s Nine started building a stake in Village back in 1991, the company’s then-general manager, Ieuan Mapperson, moved to squash rumours the Kirby family’s hold over the company would loosen. “I can assure you that these are people who are thinking of their great-grandchildren’s equity in the business,” he says. Is there any sign of that changing? Robert is steadfast: “You should mention this. My five grandchildren would love to take over our jobs.” Clark, whose daughters are aged seven, 10 and 12, is clear-eyed. “They would all love my job. But their impression of my job is that I ride roller coasters and play with dolphins every day.” Some interesting notes there: Wizard of Oz land will reportedly have a value of $100m More hotels will be built that incorporate elements from the parks into them The wording sounds to me like there will be more hotels than just the one outside Movie World. The question is, where could they be and what style could they be?