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Falling Standards at Our Parks


MickeyD
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A lot of years have passed since last time I celebrated Mothers Day, so today my Partner and I decided to visit MW instead.. 

Arriving at the Front Gate I was greeted with a Human holding a Card read device that I matched with the barcode on my Pass. No 'Good day', 'How are you' or God forbid 'Welcome to MovieWorld'.. nope. I didn't even get acknowledged. -Mind you, it was nothing personal because neither did anybody else during our visit. hmm..

Anyway, let's go on a ride!

- Green Lantern was first, sighting practically 0 wait. Highlight was the lush gardens leading up to the station. Once again I was barely acknowledged by an Attendant. The track of the ride itself is looking more rust Brown than Green and the noise and clutter from the lift itself eats up most of the atmosphere. Hmm.

- Next up DC Rivals. Wow what a Coaster. 99% probably wouldn't notice this but the wall on the Exit side of the Station is already weathered. Cheap job no doubt that will bite back in another season or two.

Again the Staff were doing just their job. Nothing more and clearly no incentive to be any better.

- That 'work in progress' Jackhammer on Main Street is worn away at the base, revealing the bolts around where it was added.. you look at it and just ask yourself huh?

- Scooby-doo is unneccaptable from start to finish, seriously wtf. Again the Staff barely acknowledged us throughout but I have gotten use to the unload attendant not saying a single word. Bypassing the shop just makes the whole experience that much more underwhealming.

- WWF. Having been part of this ironic ride's original crew I think I have every right to be critical.

It's already been said about the shallowing of the Flume throughout but not sure if anyone has mentioned how much the ride experience itself has been affected. The Boats bump and tremble along the channel making for a sub-par ride experience. Oh well.. The absence of original FX certainly doesn't help but once again ZERO interaction from Staff was the nail in the coffin for me.

Finally the Villains Area..

Just two of the interactive scenes were actually working. All else were broken including the Popular Joker, Croc Water scene and Poison Ivy with wristbands either broken or stolen. (See pictures).

I am sorry this is a rant but to be frank, I feel nothing short of PISSED OFF and LET DOWN FROM YOU MOVIE WORLD!! Your Show standard SUCKS BALLS right now and frankly, I get better service from Staff at my local 7/11.

I am writing this because it breaks my Heart to see our Parks looking as bad as this. We can only hope for Merlin to buy DW and push a firecracker up Village's arse, coz frankly it just isn't good enough right now right across our Parks. 

Mr Kirby gave a glowing interview about a year ago to Parks and right now all that was, was a bunch of empty promises. 

 

 

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12 hours ago, Gold Coast Amusement Force said:

Am I the only one who couldn’t care less if staff don’t ‘acknowledge’ me

 

5 hours ago, Tim Dasco said:

As someone who works in the fast food industry, this is very important for most customers. The amount of complaints from customers if you don't greet them instantly and friendly, is mind boggling. 

Theme Parks and Fast Food are pretty much the only places I like to be spoken to

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Re: the villains unleashed area, TBH the day they decided to 'make them free' to use, they should have just replaced the wristband reader with a small button to trigger the feature. Clearly people defacing \ stealing the wristbands for souvenirs was going to happen - and now people can't use them. Surely rewiring the RFID reader to have a simple button wouldn't be that difficult.

In saying that, clearly the prime issue here is the customer service aspect of the day - much of the park's condition can be overlooked if you've had a pleasant human interaction throughout.

We went to Dreamworld for Mother's Day yesterday. Every single staff member we interacted with or wandered past would greet us, ask how our day was, and especially - wishing my wife a Happy Mother's Day.

Whilst the condition of the park is left wanting in many places right now (and whilst this certainly doesn't excuse it) every interaction we had brightened our day.

If the executives of village roadshow are reading - they need to put more effort into their customer service efforts. Even Bunnings staff are encouraged to greet every customer they pass - i've walked past two staff having a conversation in the middle of the warehouse and had them stop their conversation just to say hello and ask if we needed any help. It's not hard - although having a lower age group as your primary human resources is a challenge - its no excuse - and simply issuing a directive that all customers should be greeted is a simple thing to implement that would change every guest's day for the better.

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Even though it’s sad to hear these comments, I agree with everything you say. VRTP biggest let down is there staff, and that definitely isn’t good. As mentioned there are some things that need improving, but when the worst thing that needs fixing is the staffs attitude and behaviour, that’s saying something. A lot don’t seem to care, don’t greet, rather not be there (and probably the only reason they are is because of the good pay rates). Staff need to be let go, refrained, or have an attitude change, because they places are for fun and happiness and most of them don’t offer it. I’ve worked in retail and know how difficult it can be to deal with some customers, and you can’t always be happy or positive, but within the theme park environment, I feel that staff should at least put a little bit more effort in, like mentioned, a simple welcome to MW is enough to start the day.

Edited by themagician
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To me it looks like you went to MW with the mindset of looking for problems.  This mindset might have been triggered from your first interactions of the day.   It's very easy to find problems with anything when you are actively seeking it out.   I do agree the items you have listed are problems, but I don’t go to theme parks to talk to ticket both operators.   I also don’t go to theme parks to make friends with the person loading me onto a ride.   If you what to go to a theme park that checks every lightbulb nightly your expectations are too high @MickeyD.

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50 minutes ago, Skeeta said:

To me it looks like you went to MW with the mindset of looking for problems.  This mindset might have been triggered from your first interactions of the day.   It's very easy to find problems with anything when you are actively seeking it out.   I do agree the items you have listed are problems, but I don’t go to theme parks to talk to ticket both operators.   I also don’t go to theme parks to make friends with the person loading me onto a ride.   If you what to go to a theme park that checks every lightbulb nightly your expectations are too high @MickeyD.

That really is some fine victim-blaming, but I'm not sure it's grounded in a lot of truth.

Allow me to present you with an alternative narrative; the OP has travelled to the park with his partner.  Being a park enthusiast it's likely the visit to the park was either for him, or initiated by him which gives him some skin in the game as to the quality of the overall experience by him and his partner.  If you'd been telling your partner that you should really go to Movie World because you hear it's pretty good lately I think you'd be a little embarrassed in front of your partner too when you find the staff scarcely make eye-contact, rides are bereft of themeing, and the host of other legitimate issues identified.

It's no different to talking up a restaurant to your mates (service, food), and then turning up and getting shit food and service.  It's not your fault, but you feel a little embarrassed for having suggested it in the first place.

Sure, you might not go to a theme park for the explicit purpose of being greeted by ticket or ride staff, but you should expect that when you have to interact with people representing the brand that they are welcoming, friendly, and knowledgeable as part and parcel of standard operating procedure.  You may not expect that lightbulbs are checked nightly, but you similarly should not expect to have an indoor rollercoaster stripped of themeing.  Bathrooms are not the reason you go to a theme park, nor is signage, nor is shade, nor is seating - but they are all integral to what you do go to a theme park for.

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3 minutes ago, webslave said:

  You may not expect that lightbulbs are checked nightly, but you similarly should not expect to have an indoor rollercoaster stripped of themeing. 

A regular park goer may not...

4 minutes ago, webslave said:

Being a park enthusiast it's likely the visit to the park was either for him, or initiated by him which gives him some skin in the game

But with skin in the game, one would expect the indoor roller coaster to be stripped of themeing, as one would be following the updates given on that attraction... Likewise, the enthusiast would also probably have talked about the current themeing issues with the people they're visiting with, mentioning the current state to their fellow park goers in advance - rather than being embarrassed about it - one would appear knowledgeable to their associates and have prepared them for the inevitable disappointment that is a bare bones ride to set their expectations low...

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Just now, AlexB said:

But with skin in the game, one would expect the indoor roller coaster to be stripped of themeing, as one would be following the updates given on that attraction... Likewise, the enthusiast would also probably have talked about the current themeing issues with the people they're visiting with, mentioning the current state to their fellow park goers in advance - rather than being embarrassed about it - one would appear knowledgeable to their associates and have prepared them for the inevitable disappointment that is a bare bones ride to set their expectations low...

A good point, but a debatable one.  See, I'd have figured that if the park were willing to operate SDSC that they'd have managed to do it in such a way that it didn't dominate the experience (ie; I don't recall too well, but is the now-darker-than-usual dark-ride section over fairly quickly and the rest of it is good?) - but from reading the OP's call I'm now thinking that's not the case.

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26 minutes ago, webslave said:

That really is some fine victim-blaming, but I'm not sure it's grounded in a lot of truth.

Fair shake of the sauce bottle, no crime was committed and I'm not blaming MickeyD.

I didn't say it was he fault for any of the issues. 

He said "Next up DC Rivals. Wow what a Coaster. 99% probably wouldn't notice this but the wall on the Exit side of the Station is already weathered. Cheap job no doubt that will bite back in another season or two".

I'm saying he noticed it because he was the 1% looking for it.

 

 

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1 minute ago, Skeeta said:

Fair shake of the sauce bottle, no crime was committed and I'm not blaming MickeyD.

I didn't say it was he fault for any of the issues. 

He said "Next up DC Rivals. Wow what a Coaster. 99% probably wouldn't notice this but the wall on the Exit side of the Station is already weathered. Cheap job no doubt that will bite back in another season or two".

I'm saying he noticed it because he was the 1% looking for it.

S'alright ol' Skeet - I'm not accusing you of war crimes.  You're a good egg.

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I'd rather staff in safety roles (loading, unloading) be focused on safety rather than pleasantry's.

My question, and not just to the OP but to all of you is, how many of you thank/acknowledge the ride attendant's when they do acknowledge you? They may be paid but I'd hazard a guess they get little response and eventually wear down from trying and give up.

That Scooby unloader would be a boring lonely job, and at the moment not one I'd want. The amount of disappointed faces coming your way would be tiresome, not to mention how many times you'd be asked "when is it getting fixed" a day.

Whilst it may be guttered, at least it is open. My 6yr old son loved the ride (his first true roller coaster ride) in its current form and will loose his s**t when it is themed again, he's a mental Scooby Doo fan.

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I just joined after visiting 3 of the parks over the last week (except Wet N' Wild) but I actually think MW is looking pretty sad right now. It seems the whole park could do with a fresh paint job. We also found the staff at MW mostly non-existent, Dreamworld on the other hand - the staff were so polite, would interact with everyone and couldn't go further out of their way to make sure you were enjoying yourself. Our favourite ride was the Scooby Coaster (from 2 years ago when we last visited) and we were really disappointed when we learnt that the ride had been guttered due to it being a fire hazard, still almost 2 years later it remains empty.. and it really is quite sad. I noticed on their website today that there is "scheduled maintenance"  from the 02/06 - 23/09 maybe this means they're ready to roll out the new scenary?

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From a customer service perspective I couldn’t agree more. 

Since the first time I went to MW and DW to the most recent, I feel like their staff are on complete different sides of the chart.

at dreamworld, staff are always friendly and polite, love a conversation and clearly like or atleast act like they like their job. Asking me how my day has been, what my favourite ride was, where im from, even coming up to me and my friends and asking to take photos of us on our phones.

Whereas each time at movie world it just seems like a robotic feeling, no acknowledgment, conversations, some of the times even no smiles from their staff. The only way I get the same type of conversation or acknowledgement is by doing one of their electronic surveys whilst waiting in line.

(personal opinion and experiences)

Edited by Jackson13Walasek
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So I visited the park today and they now have signs on these two food stores saying that are seasonal, and Scooby Doo store was closed again. Because of that side door being open I watched a few people walk through it thinking it was the ride entrance 

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This was the thing @MickeyD was on about

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GL lockers are now fenced off 

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And the supports for SE in the AA area are being repainted 

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Also, all of the tags in the villains areas have been removed, and now just a pointless chain hangs. There was one staff member in the area at the Joker using a tag to activate the affect so people could have a turn. So sad to see it’s come to this, when most of the effects are pretty cool and fun. Hopefully a new system is integrated, such as (as suggested) just a button you push. But something needs to be done 

Edited by themagician
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