Movie World Maintenance Schedule 2025

[New display name]

@DaptoFunlandGuyIf you went to DW today you would be lucky if there is 300 guest in the park.  Should DW close today?

DW'S latest marketing angle is you can ride 7 rides in an hour.  If guest can fit in 7 rides in an hour, the park isn't making any money.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

So, just to be clear, the person who was crying the park closed an hour early... is now suggesting the park should close in the off season instead?

Just for the record - the 2024 annual report indicated attendance had increased by 14.3% from 2023 to 2024. On average, that's an extra 478 people in the park each day*. I am willing to bet that the opening of rivertown will have boosted this number again.

Are there likely to be some days with low attendance that eat into profits? Yes. Does it make sense to shutter the dry park entirely in cold months? Not at all - events like winterfest are a hit and people are willing to visit a dry park in colder months - in fact the lower attendances make it a nicer visit for folk who prefer lesser crowds. 

Additionally the park being open midweek opens the opportunity to have school or tour groups drop by. International tourism is still increasing in the sector so offering a wildlife product to compete with Paradise country is also a source of additional profit. If they close the park entirely due to low visitation on some days, they give up the opportunity to turn a profit or welcome tour and school groups which supplement the park income. They also decimate their full-time employees who are no longer able to fulfil their contracted hours - which then leads to staff shortages in peak seasons and 3 hour waits for a hypercoaster.Nevermind wrong park.

Does it make sense to shutter a water park in colder months? Yes it does. You're unlikely to make a profit, especially if you're competing with another one down the road. period.

 

*Yes the group reports attendance across all properties including Skypoint so this isn't precisely indicative of park attendance. I'd like to say 'you get the point though' but I suspect you'll ignore it.

[New display name]

The other day, I witnessed the JR train being sent with 3 people onboard and the  🚗 had no queue.   

[Naazon]

4 hours ago, themagician said:

@Naazon not sure if that entirely counts since it’s run by an outside business and they just rent the park out. 
 

You could also argue WWW opens in the winter because the Fun Run goes through the park… but again, I wouldn’t say the park is ‘open’.

Sure not run by the park, but its not like its a static asset just sitting there, my point is renting it out would likely make more than opening it for regular business in the off season.

[Levi]

20 hours ago, New display name said:

The other day, I witnessed the JR train being sent with 3 people onboard and the  🚗 had no queue.   

well yes that’s the exact point on why they have reduced hours?

[New display name]

1 hour ago, Levi said:

well yes that’s the exact point on why they have reduced hours?

and DW still wouldn't be making a profit.   Everybody keeps telling me if you can't make a profit you close it, I don't know why DW is open Mon-Thur.

[HarryHeHe8]

1 hour ago, New display name said:

and DW still wouldn't be making a profit.   Everybody keeps telling me if you can't make a profit you close it, I don't know why DW is open Mon-Thur.

Did you not read anything @DaptoFunlandGuysaid? If they took your advice and closed it during the week, they would lose not only any extra money they could have, + tour groups, but also about half their total employees, which is those on a contract. I could say more, but just read the below post instead. A more reasonable option would be to push the opening time out to 11.

On 15/05/2025 at 10:56 AM, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

So, just to be clear, the person who was crying the park closed an hour early... is now suggesting the park should close in the off season instead?

Just for the record - the 2024 annual report indicated attendance had increased by 14.3% from 2023 to 2024. On average, that's an extra 478 people in the park each day*. I am willing to bet that the opening of rivertown will have boosted this number again.

Are there likely to be some days with low attendance that eat into profits? Yes. Does it make sense to shutter the dry park entirely in cold months? Not at all - events like winterfest are a hit and people are willing to visit a dry park in colder months - in fact the lower attendances make it a nicer visit for folk who prefer lesser crowds. 

Additionally the park being open midweek opens the opportunity to have school or tour groups drop by. International tourism is still increasing in the sector so offering a wildlife product to compete with Paradise country is also a source of additional profit. If they close the park entirely due to low visitation on some days, they give up the opportunity to turn a profit or welcome tour and school groups which supplement the park income. They also decimate their full-time employees who are no longer able to fulfil their contracted hours - which then leads to staff shortages in peak seasons and 3 hour waits for a hypercoaster.Nevermind wrong park.

Does it make sense to shutter a water park in colder months? Yes it does. You're unlikely to make a profit, especially if you're competing with another one down the road. period.

 

*Yes the group reports attendance across all properties including Skypoint so this isn't precisely indicative of park attendance. I'd like to say 'you get the point though' but I suspect you'll ignore it.

 

[New display name]

I read it.  Don't agree with it.   Dapto is averaging out the attendance over the year which is 👎  .Dapto is happy to average out DW but not WWW.    CEH only made a net profit last year of 2.61m which included the insurance payout for rebuilding the vintage cars which DW never did because DW was already replacing the vintage cars with Murrissippi Motors.

[Ash]

the thing with only opening Friday-Sunday, we will end up with the shit show that is Movieworld and their operations, which imo would happen because they would be relying on younger staff/new causal hire to only work the 3 days instead of having staff that have been there many years working a full weekly shift. Just my opinion 

[New display name]

You can apply that same theory to sacking all the WWW staff each year.

WWW operated for months this year on a 3 day roster.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

On 15/05/2025 at 11:38 AM, New display name said:

The other day, I witnessed the JR train being sent with 3 people onboard and the  🚗 had no queue.   

I've seen the same thing at many parks that open midweek in the off season. 

4 hours ago, HarryHeHe8 said:

Did you not read anything @DaptoFunlandGuysaid?

He frequently doesn't.

3 hours ago, New display name said:

I read it.  Don't agree with it.   Dapto is averaging out the attendance over the year which is 👎  .Dapto is happy to average out DW but not WWW.    CEH only made a net profit last year of 2.61m which included the insurance payout for rebuilding the vintage cars which DW never did because DW was already replacing the vintage cars with Murrissippi Motors.

The point about the attendance is that it increased on the prior year - by more than the amount you saw in the park no less.

I'm quite sure someone said recently 'a water park is not a theme park'. It makes less sense to open it in winter. you're competing with a small enough crowd as it is. Dry park on the other hand, if you're open, you're forcing customers to choose between you and a competitor. If you close, you're giving the game away.

As for the insurance payout, i'm sure it was absorbed into the capex for rivertown, so in a way, they did rebuild it - just elsewhere. (and even if it didn't technically get absorbed into the rivertown budget, it's all CE's money so it really doesn't matter. they got paid by insurance to rebuild vintage cars, and they rebuild vintage cars. end of.

57 minutes ago, New display name said:

You can apply that same theory to sacking all the WWW staff each year.

WWW operated for months this year on a 3 day roster.

First of all, they're not sacked. Let's not start using emotive and inflammatory language to get people upset about a normal thing that happens every year. They're hired on contracts and the contracts have a fixed end date.

As I understand it Raging Waters in Sydney has a similar issue with retaining staff over seasons, but its just the nature of a seasonal business and the workers go into that eyes open. I think more than a few waterpark folk double as Ski Resort workers in the winter, and many come back year on year.

But that isn't a good enough reason to open the waterpark in winter. It is however a good enough reason to keep your dry park open.