I just want to say to anyone upset by my harsh comments that it doesn’t make me happy to make videos like this. I love the Gold Coast theme parks. I am no Movie World hater, in fact, it’s played a huge role in me becoming an enthusiast. I’m making this video because I’m seeing concerning signs about the direction that the park is going. I remember Movie World as the home of rides like Looney Tunes River Ride, where we were whisked away to immersive and magical worlds. So much of what Movie World has done in the past few years has not lived up to that, and in my opinion, the Wizard of Oz precinct was a concerning sign because of its poor execution. I won’t sugarcoat my criticisms, but I want everyone to know that this comes from a place of love, and the emotions I’m feeling are disappointment that the park I love is not living up to what it should be - not hatred or anger towards the park or any individual involved with it.
Great analysis, and to be honest you're covering all of my concerns I had when watching the walk throughs recorded on opening day. It had potential - you can see as you mentioned the spots of greatness however nothing in these rides want me to come visit. 100% a darkride would have been amazing. The land is missing variety - imagine if they had done a show style ride like Twister - Ride it out. The theming in the emerald city space looks incomplete. Great video!!
Unfortunately after you’ve been over to Orlando USA or Tokyo Japan and gone to the parks there, our theme parks in Australia have a LOT of catching up to do……
Hong Kong Disney, Tokyo Disney, Japan Universal for me and i have to agree with you. While a significant higher guest visit and money maker, you can have good theming and guest experiences if management want it done.
Dont forget Efteling in The Netherlands or Europapark and Phantasialand in Germany.. one could think these parks even rival the big parks in the USA and Japan
Completely agree. Movieworld is headed down a dark path. Dirty, tired, disrepair, and no thought to the customer experience. Just money grabbing. Dreamworld and movieworld have swap places in this past 1-2years. Dreamworlds number one goal seems to be ‘every guests best experience’.
Yeah, recently I bought a fast pass for dreamworld but I accidentally put the wrong date, the staff were kind enough to go through the effort to change the dates. I feel like if I had done the same with movie world, they would’ve just said that they cant do it. Also operations at movie world feel extremely slow, even though dreamworld doesn’t have the best operations, movie worlds are probably worse.
Movieworld crew need to go overseas and take notes from other theme parks. Hell if they can't even do that, get them learning how to maintain a park in Roller Coaster Tycoon 1 / 2 esp the Open RCT version. Money grabbing gets nowhere if you can't get the people back in the park.
Yup. When a private equity firm take over, it's a big red flag for certain industries and theme parks are one of them. All the signs are already pointing to the firm spending at little as possible on their parks, which can only mean they're going to get worse from here.
Here's the biggest fun fact, on Opening day, there were signs in the entrance plaza basically saying "This is in Technical Rehersal", yes, the opening day was technically a Soft Opening. I also do love the extremely repeditive music on Flight of the Wicked Witch. Being in the near dark with neon lights and a constant harp appegio playing throughout the ambient music in the dark forest queue? That wasn't fun..
The theming on superman escape is so amazing at the start and it hypes up the ride so much. Can’t believe they cheaped out on what was supposed to be one of the main elements of the new wizard of oz area. Would’ve main it so much better.
Movie world peaked in the 90s to 2010s. It used to have the coolest rides like the looney tunes bugs bunny ride, scooby doo rollercoaster (when it didn't breakdown every 5 minutes), thr batman cave ride, lethal weapon, oh and not a ride but the police academy stunt show that was so cool. What movie world needs is an overhaul. It has the right idea with the wizard of oz presinct but it needs finness and proper care taken with the rest of the park. I love theme parks and its sad to see our Aussie ones in such a state. Throw some proper theming around, interactive areas, interactive ride queues, instead of just rollercoasters with a superheros name attached theme them properly, bring back the shows, bring back characters walking the park more often. Its costly but spend money to make money is still a thing.
I think Movieworld should've gone for one massive standout family attraction, maybe something like an Intamin Multi-Dimension coaster, with unique elements that can't be found anywhere else in Australia. They could've had this, ran multiple trains for decent throughput, and have an elaborately themed ride while also being able to fit a few flat rides in. Movieworld is severely lacking in flat rides, their only ones being Batwing Spaceshot and almost everything in the kids zone, so not adding any to the Oz section was also a bit of a mistake. Still, the Oz land isn't a total failure. I'm a fan of it, even though it doesn't live up to the expectations set by Movieworld, it's still a decent area, though I really, really hope that they see to improve it over the coming years.
@@MACHlNATION Scooby-Doo is fully enclosed. I'm talking a hybrid, part inside part outside. Would solve the immersion problem, as it would be exciting to stand waiting in line just watching the thing, hearing the screams from inside. But of course it will never happen because it will be too expensive. Just like a full dark ride, maintaining the animatronics and special effects (not just TV screens) would be too much overhead.
I agree with everything you say and have another suggestion as to where they failed and may be able to improve. I have just gotten back from Universal Beijing and Shanghai Disneyland and have been absolutely blown away by them, they are night and day compared to Movieworld and honestly having recently gone to Movieworld again now it was sadly comparably bad in comparison particularly because their theming and care for detail was so bad. Its such a simple fix too - but one area I particularly noticed in the Wizard of Oz land in addition to inconsistent theming, was that there were no properly themed shops! One of the ways the big themeparks make money is with really well themed shops whereby they provide an amazing experience even within the shops and make paying guests feel the need to buy merch too! I wish this Wizard of Oz area spent some more money to create themed shops - just imaging a Munchkin land themed shop, an Emerald City themed shop, and a diner experience for the land! Those three things itself would both add to the experience of the land and its “completeness” feeling as well as make money for the WB Movieworld team. Have a look at the Zootopia land for what I mean about immersive theming
I agree with this! Such a missed opportunity. I spent more time in Disney Paris looking around all the different themed shops, there was always something different and fun to see and it pulls people away from ride areas and lowers queue times.
Last week I had 3 days at Movie World and I totally agree with your video. Very badly designed precinct. Wicked witch ride... indoor theming is great with red poppies and haunted forest.... however 90% of the queue is outdoors with no shade 90 minutes in the sun on a 35 degree day for a 7 out of 10 ride. Never again. Twister was not much better, only 1 of the coasters was working and when I asked what is wrong with the other, a staff member said they didn't have enough staff to operate both.... this in the middle of summer school holiday period. I won't be returning to Movie World anytime soon.
Great video, agree completely. It's been really sad seeing MW go more and more and more down hill. My expectations for the Scooby refurb dropped significantly after visiting Oz Re Kansas Twister, apparently the first time it ran with actual riders was on opening day itself, which isn't a good sign...
Fantastic video! I completely agree with everything you said about the current state of Movie World. It has always been my favorite park on the Gold Coast and it really was immersive and world class back in the day. But the current management team have completely run it into the ground and turned what was a legitimate movie studio theme park (that was often compared to Universal Studios in terms of quality) into Six Flags over Oxenford. It is so disappointing to see. The guest experience took a noise dive as soon as BGH took over and it really feels like the only thing the park cares about these days is taking as much money from you as possible. I was really hoping the Wizard of Oz area would be a return to form, but clearly this is not the case and I am extremely worried about the future of the park if things don't immediately improve.
Totally agree with your thoughts on the two rides, Movie World made big mistakes with them. The wait time vs ride time with Flight of the Wicked Witch is absolutely ridiculous, I've ridden it once and likely will never again as the line is unbearable. And to leave people standing in the hot sun for an hour plus while waiting, what on earth are they thinking. Kansas Twister is just flat out boring and way too short. For all the hype Movie World made about the two rides...... massive let down.
Movieworld needed a people eater, an amazing high capacity dark ride would have done the trick. OZ is a terrible precinct compared to Rivertown. We went last week and the place looks run down and depressing. All credit to Greg Young and the team for bringing Dreamworld back on top
Thing is, Kansas Twister is their people eater, so much so that it makes an hour long queue turn into an instant ride on. Problem is that it moves everyone to Flight of the wicked witch
Thank you!!! I agree with every single point in this video. Another problem that I want to add (that one commenter here touched on) is that when Wicked's hype of the two movies die down, the desire to see the Wizard of Oz land will be even quicker to fall into irrelevance. Yes, some mega fans of the IP are here and will keep it alive, but overall the interest might be more towards dormant after Part 2. The real winner (to keep the whole Oz hype going) would be Universal, because they own Wicked and the stage show is so beloved, and arguably over the Wizard of Oz, there can still be profit, and marketing and experiences done WELL by Universal (see their Orlando store and Singapore popup for examples). Looking at WB's catalogue, I see why they relied so much on DC as it is probably their most popular brand of all time, bar Harry Potter, which is mostly claimed by Universal. The question is, would they have an IP that could suit the next update, or should they look back at original ideas and make a world from there? My personal opinion is, where Doomsday Destroyer was, that whole land should be turned into Beetlejuice, half Netherworld behind the Scooby castle, and half sandworm desert leading into Wild West. First, a perfect segue to both lands, but also, although Beetlejuice 2 hype has died down (like WofO will soon) the character has had a resurgence because of the musical and the flexibility the IP has, and having a spooky typical event like the Netherworld can be so immersive and made family friendly as well as keeping the odd adult humour. This is my very long 2 cents, but I know this could work for MW, and if they are so strong of going down of marketing off IPs (as everyone is), they really need to take a good long look at their catalogue and go all in. EDIT TO MY COMMENT CAUSE I QUICKLY RESEARCHED THEIR IPS: They have the rights to Lord of the Rings. WHY DID WE NOT GET A HUGE INDOOR RIDE BASED IN THAT WORLD???
Great video, definitely encapsulates what a lot of people have felt about the new precinct. It was either time or money that has turned their ambitious ideas of what they wanted to deliver, into the home brand version of what they actually have delivered. Movie World management has made a LOT of questionable decisions in recent years - i.e. cramming cheap flat rides into every corner of the park, over-doing it on DC Comics every-freaking-where, forgetting or ignoring the customer experience, and charging Disney-level prices without delivering the same level of product. Btw Mistake #7 was having the entryway underneath the Superman ride. It is so jarring and kinda laughable that you walk through Superman and suddenly hear "Somewhere over the Rainbow" - well, that's if you can hear it in between groups of people screaming overhead. Weird choice that ruins the experience. Why not have the entryway off the Main Street square, like the old China Town/Lethal Weapon entry point was? It would make for a far better introduction to the precinct, help with people congestion, and maintain theming integrity. I don't get it.
What flat rides? That’s my biggest complaint about MW - the lack of flat rides to spread around the crowds and soak them up. There’s literally only one flat ride in the park, the barely themed batwing space shot tower. Dreamworld has a good selection of theme park worthy flat rides (5 all up).
I think alot of the budget was dedicated towards even prying permission to use the IP from Warner bros in the first place. Village Roadshows seems to be in a really crappy position right now, their entire IP and Themepark branding is beholden to another unrelated Media company with Warner Bros, and any sense of affliation they hadoutside of their whole co finacing some movies stuff has broken down. Warner sold its ownership of the Themepark nearly 2 decades ago, and Village stopped distributing their movies over here about 5 years ago. Plus warner cut any traces of Villages involvement in Furiosa, which you don't really do if your on good terms. You add onto that despite being MOVIE world (Keyword here, 'Movie') and a park with heavy DC super hero presence, Village seemed completely unable to capitalize on the DC Cinematic Universe at all during its wave. To me that screams of Warner being very uninterested in letting Village use their Ips to help facelift Movieworld in any form, I suspect its part of the reason why Village picked Oz, its a evergreen franchise that is both iconic enough for branding but far enough out of the zeitgeist that they could cut a deal.
Re Bins/Seats/Shade/etc - What I'm hearing is management is trying to run the land on Roller Coaster tycoon, and forgets to add them until the land is a mess....
I truly hate to say this, but I honestly have to agree which pretty much all the points you brought up with this flawed precinct. Don't get me wrong, they did some things really well. But as a MW regular, despite how much I enjoy Flight of the Wicked Witch and Kansas Twister, this isn't an area in the park I spend a lot of time in. Also, it was awesome meeting you at Dreamworld's After Dark event just outside Murrissippi Motors!
i feel like a big immersive e ticket trackless dark ride would of made way more sense and been more approachable every one from kids to grandparents enjoy dark rides
The lack of shade in tightly fenced in outdoor queue areas is genuinely mind boggling and unforgivable. Heck, I can’t build a house without very specific inclusions tied to climate, so why aren’t there Government regulations ensuring theme parks have to think these things through too? It doesn’t help that Movie World is actively misusing what few indoor spaces they do have on these new attractions by keeping the main queues in between the shaded areas, rather than inside them. Oh, and another gripe about what should obviously have been called “The Land of Oz”: why did they opt to have guests enter through Superman and turn to see the Emerald City, instead of having a dedicated entry from Main Street? Y’know, where the old Chinatown was. I feel like it makes perfect sense to have had people start near the Boost Juice truck, journey past Munchkinland and then come to the majestic palace. Not only that, they could potentially have utilised the space to thematically separate the Kansas ride from the Wicked Witch one too. But what would I know? 🤷🏻♂️🫣🫠
@@BobSmith-o8c I dont think that would happen considering its got a 40+ year old rich history right where it stands today. Its too important to Gold Coast history to just be wiped for housing
I think you’ve raised some excellent points in this. Great video. I think this land isn’t that bad, but it’s certainly not what it was billed as. I can see some logic with family coasters, but they had to know that capacity would be an issue. I don’t think this is a failure of implementation. This is a failure of planning in many ways, and marketing in some ways. Let’s just hope that Scooby comes back stronger than it was.
I agree wjth everything u said! That opening just came out of nowhere and not using thenmovie release in Australia.was a miss. Its such a shame about the area not living up to whatnit could...they had so much scope they could have drawn upon and they could have made this epic....it feels like this went up pretty quicky if we compare to how long the upgrade to scooby is taking.
Great review! It really is unfortunate they didn't capitalize on the Wizard of Oz theme more. It has so much potential. I know this chain can do theming well, so it's real disappointing how this land turned out. Hopefully, at minimum, they can address the shade and seating concerns in the future. Disney opened Slinky Dog Dash with very little shade in the queue and they did fix it a year or two in. So there is precedent.
I think a big problem with movie world is that if a ride or 2 are closed for the day (last 2 times I have been this has been the case) then every other area gets absolutely swamped and the park feels like a line waiting facility more than a theme park. Dreamworld at least the rides are spread out and there are a bunch of areas which spreads the traffic throughout the park
It would also help if they filled up the rides with single riders. In peak school visiting season at the end of November/start of December I went to ride the Joker and was there by myself in the single rider line. There were about 6 in front of me. They filled up the car and had 3 empty seats. They didn’t take anyone from the single rider line line or split a group of two. They are so slow at unloading and loading the carriages. It took nearly 8 minutes to unload the one car they were running (yes one car on the joker) and then they aren’t even filling the car to capacity. Movieworld is being so poorly run at the moment!
I will always find it odd when a theme park calls something impressive and then drop in a basic outdoor coaster. If I'm thinking immersion the rides sound blend into the environment,not have clearly visible metal coaster tracks everywhere. Also so odd that they didn't just do a dark ride and also having Munchkinland and emerald city all shoved into one tiny space also feels odd.I think Oz needed a bigger layout and more inventive ideas for rides
for the love of god - no more coasters and no more DC theming. Village needs to commit to another flat, show or dark ride to eat up capacity and round out its offerings. Right now MW is a half day park at best and it rarely has everything running to begin with.
Totally agree with you on this one. Even the “updates” to the Superman Escape queue seems very minimal from the images that have been put out for it. They also didn’t have the area open for the White Christmas events after it opened which was a huge disappointment.
Great commentary and love your vids but did you miss the part where this isn't a land or precinct as they advertise, its merely two now rides and their attraction queue. This is the biggest missed opportunity where if you aren't riding the coasters, you can't explore anything but look at badly painted show buildings and an emerald city building, which is just the queue entrance. They stuffed up big time, no food or merch, isn't this how disney makes it $$$. I have always loved Movieworld and it was getting international attention with DC Rivals coaster but this just puts them ten steps backwards especially with Rivertown opening. I thought Oz would blitz Rivertown but seeing what they did, its just such a disappointment
I did not realise how bad the arkem asylum complaint was until i saw that clip oh my lord, its like they saw that and lazily said "it looks like a reference keep it there"
27:43 The last time they "re-vamped" the Scooby Doo spooky coaster that made it LAMER by using digital screens! Also, they removed Arkum Asylum? So, it's now gone from Gremlins (though that might have been Scooby-Doo... it was a long time ago), to Lethal Weapon, to Arkum Asylum, and now Wizard of Oz? IT WAS A GOOD RIDE! I never even got to experience the VR version of the ride, and I only got to do it once. The theming at the entrance, OMG with the cop being tied up and wiggling above you was GENIUS! This... yeah it looks lackluster at best, and I did find the EXACT SAME RIDE and Gumbuya World which is only 40 minutes from me (but the prices leave something to be desired, so no plans to visit atm)
Great video! It really is such a shame to see a place you know and love turn sour. I agree that I can’t really fault PicoPlay at all, and would have to suspect the issues lie in the freedom they were given. I think it’s actually really irresponsible and disrespectful for Movie World to open something like this connected to an extremely iconic and historically important film in the condition it’s currently in. If you build something connected to something so special, it’s your duty to live up to the quality and magic of the film.
We went to both Movieworld and Dreamworld in January. We aren’t “rides people” but went with a friend and her adhd teenage boy. Dreamworld was better. He enjoyed it more. The waiting for rides was difficult for him and we missed seeing a lot of what you pictured of the Oz precinct because we didn’t go past the first section. We didn’t see the poppies or anything because we thought it was only for those going on the rides. Probably won’t be back.
I think the fundamental issue with Movie World is that ever since the Global Financial Crisis they have been completely unwilling to build a roller-coaster that is both good and well themed We’ll see how the revamp of spooky coaster goes and perhaps following its reopening the capacity issues with these two coasters won’t stand out too much. Nonetheless Movie World’s priority should be to build a ride with goal of being “DC Rivals with actually good theming”
The complete lack of shade, water fountains, and anywhere to sit is an actual health and safety issue when you think for more that two seconds about how brutal queensland summers can be. As was mentioned, there's proof of that with the number of guest suffering actual heat stroke simply from standing in line. I stand by my original thoughts that (for as much as an institution as the land is) they should have replaced the wild west with Oz. Replace the falls with the emerald city/castle and they could have had a yellow brick road leading towards it. Most of the infrastructure is already there. Include a candy shop that specializes in Big Lollipops!! and call it the Lollipop Guild. Boom, more guest spending. A gift shop disguised as the scene where Dorothy & co. have their makeovers in Emerald City. My main takeaway is that Movie World doesn't know how to make a LAND anymore since diving so deep down the DC superhero trend.
Haven’t got a yearly pass to Movie World, SeaWorld, Wet n Wild since post pandemic yearly pass ended (4 years in row had bought passes for nieces and myself). Went to Universal Studios in Japan with nieces in late 2023 and way better. They also open 9am to 9pm which gives you time for more rides.
Finally someone speaking the truth and being constructive with their opinions! Movie world have missed the mark on so much theming from this to the hyper coaster it’s simply boring for the amount of money they have poured in. Dreamworld are hitting the. Ball out of the park and will continue to with how they have found their identity again. Love your content mate keep up the great vids
Honestly, the immense amount of missed opportunities is very much disappointing, and during my last visit (literally a week ago) sadly both sides of the kansas twister were under sudden emergency maintenance. The combination of one of the rides I literally flew across australia to try out being closed and the scorching hot hellish queue of flight of the wicked witch honestly bummed me out so much. But, on the bright side, at least I had fun and that’s all that really matters. Oh, and sunburn. Can’t forget the sunburn. (p.s. why is this video so good tho like oml??) (also apologize if this comment’s hard to read or a lil all over the place😭)
I hope they expand the Wizard of Oz land because I was extremely hyped for this land and the theming. I'm still yet to get there but from what I have seen i'm gonna be disappointed
Wizard of Oz SHOULD have had a high quality Dark Ride...and then a supporting small family coaster like a Family Boomerang...There definitely is a lack of theming after the first half of the rides queues and it stands out in stark contrast to the haunted forest/poppy fields sections.
I'll be visiting Dreamworld soon for Rivertown. The Wizard of Oz is not something that interests me personally, so giving it a miss in a couple years of sun exposure the paint will make the area look faided and outrightterrible. Justice League 3D is a mediocre ride. I never went on Doomsday, so I dont have an opinion but its removal opens up the space. The stunt show is one and done. There is a theme park in Bali Trans Studio they could learn from in terms of theming for things like Mad Max which would be a good fit for Movieworld
Great video! Just unfortunate knowing what a let down it’s going to be once I go there when I get home , oh well , hopefully Scooby Doo will be better , as it always is
Story wise, this land is a mess. You enter it through the Emerald City and are then suddenly in Kansas, but the Wicked Witch winds around the Kansas ride? Like, the castle of the Wicked Witch is right there next to Aunt Em and Uncle Henry’s farm?!
Good video. You can see the potential that is there but just wasn't followed through on. As a few others have commented, I think the biggest problem is a private equity firm taking ownership. Not in the best interests of the park or the business (group of parks) altogether. Basically when it was Warner Village Theme Parks and then Village Roadshow Theme Parks, you had people in the know, you had soul of the entertainment industry running the theme parks. Private equity firms have neither the knowledge nor the soul.
gonna be honest, after visiting Rivertown and seeing the amount of effort and detail put into almost every part of the area, the Oz precent is just embarrassing.
it's probably worth noting too that it was storming hard enough from december 17-19 that many of their rides werent running - Including test runs of the new rides. I was there that week and saw flight of the wicked witch run maybe once?
agreed, i said most of what you did the first review i saw on this land. Boggles the mind too why they would pic a movie from the 1940's that most kids today haven't heard of. there were so many other themes they could have gone with rather than this.
Movieworld definitely isn’t like it used to be. As a kid back in the 90’s visiting movieworld was the best ever. I miss the looney tunes ride. Police academy, gremlins ride ect. All the rides were always operating when I visited back then. Now days whenever I head to QLD. So many rides are closed. Especially Wild West ride.
Sea World is the same both parks are looking very old and tired as you can see areas in desperate need of maintenance and upkeep and shows have remained unchanged for nearly 20 years.
I think its not important for Movie World to have more than one train. They are sooooo unnecessary slow when loading the train! Even on Green Lantern most of the time there is no! train on the layout. Australia is so painfully slow when loading and unloading I would even say it is not sensible at all to have a theme park 😅
Great video, as far as capacity goes as an ex operator for Scooby with 2 loaders + a sorter and the maximum amount of cars on the track you would be lucky to break 700 riders a hour. That is with operators on the ball, but generally you'd be looking at about 500 - 550 a hour. This is before fast track became a thing as well. I'd love to see how they came up with the 1000 riders a hour number haha.
@@DanielHarmer I think it’s just calculated based on completely optimal conditions. Fastest possible dispatch every time, full cars, no delays etc. Throughput numbers from a manufacturer are generally very far ahead of what you’ll ever realistically reach because actually operating a ride is never as simple as on paper
Call me crazy but I honestly wish that Arkham Asylum just got a refresh on the ride itself, the theming alone was at least top 3 at the park but the fact that it was still the same Lethal Weapon ride from 30 years ago weighed it down
I agree. The theming to the rides are good to a point but the fences around the rides is terrible. Not having a ramp but that stupid lift is horrible. Also the painting is lit good and yeah overall just a let down.
They designed the area "for families" but have not at ALL thought about how families would use the area. If I bring my mum to the park with me and my kids, where is she going to sit with the baby and watch the ride? Where is the nearest toilet for the kid that still has accidents sometimes? Am I meant to stand up while breastfeeding? In the sun?
I hope they can improve the precinct. The entrance music into the next area's audio transition is really quite cool, but this really needs theming and/or interactivity all the way through. I think the bit with the Wizard would have been cooler if the voice didn't mention the three character names, allowing guests to really take that role. In fact when I first him even though it was on a UA-cam vid, I found myself sort of responding to him until he mentioned the three characters which actually took me out of it! The weird thing is, there's gaps in the voice over allowing people to respond to it before he speaks the next line.
Haven't been to Movieworld to see this precinct, the rides looked very boring. I did go to dreamworld however and the jungle rush ride was the coolest thing i've seen in a long time. I think the biggest mistake Movieworld has done in recent years was changing scooby doo from animatronics to digital stuff. And now its been down for a long time again so maybe they've realised it was a mistake and bringing back the animatronics?
The CEO should make it mandatory for the management team to take their families and document their day without any VIP perks like fast passes. Only by eating their own cooking will they release where they are going wrong. Things like inadequate seating, inadequate shade for queues, lack of rubbish bins, and poor food choices then might get noticed.
Visited 30th Jan 2025 - Theme park nerd here so your video only confirmed and covered everything I thought during my visit. I had been following the construction updates and marketing and was looking forward to the area. I thought, ok nice they are actually getting serious with a land and spending some money. Then I was concerned when the Gumbuya World coaster opened and saw how little capacity the coaster had, plus the one train. Instant moment of.... that's not going to work well for movie world at all. Construction went on and Movie World continued to do updates very well on socials etc. Ok promising, and then when the first few videos came out from media and some UA-cam channels it was oh no, this looks bad, it looks unfinished, it looks like a rock quarry and a jail exercise yard with all the fences. (I expected the fences because that's what Australia theme parks do, they do steel tube pool fences, everywhere. There is of course safety elements for rides and attractions, and then there is steel tube pool fences everywhere) My hopes were crushed we were getting something worthy and substance. Oh dear..... Fast forward to my visit - cheap looking build, ply wood/tin screwed and riveted onto the frame work, unfinished queue lines eg castle wtf!, sight lines, unfinished painted areas, a mish mash of confusing decisions and choices, no clear sign you need to enter the Oz door to get to the rides, lack of anything in the courtyard area which just looks horrendous. A Wizard room which is clearly for events and corporate parties like they do with scooby's queue area. The haunted forest was good i will give that, but ends with blank walls and exits into the quarry jail yard. The castle was nice on the outside, inside you wonder again about it all being unfinished, no effort at all. Great paint sponge work by the Kindy kids art team. The load and dispatch times are horrible with my wait from the side of lift hill to station was appox 25 - 30 mins and they cycled 6 trains. Ride was quick and fun but then the bland walk through the prison yard just left me angry again because you cant see anything because all you look at is fences. Wouldn't it be nice to stand and look at the twister coaster wizz through all that open area of corn with some props? Nope! black fences in your way. What about from over..... nope black fences. How about just over this.... nope black fences in the way. They built a barn, ok cool.... but inside it's all steel beams, wooden stair railings with massive sheets of plastic perspex screwed into them, minimal theming and still managed to use a black steel fence as walls,. Cover over the frame work with fake foam beams, give me a filled used farm barn don't give me a Titan garage shed!! 100% the hay bales, if real, will be gone once they start to break down as the hay will blow around and create a slipping hazard on station and the track sensors. It was a walk on for Kanas Twister but also had such a horrible load time, it's like they are instructed to limit how many dispatches are done per hour. Stood at the station gates for close to 5 mins, staff just standing about talking doing F all before loaded and then another 3-4 mins until dispatch. Both rides are not worth waiting any more than 15-20 mins. No Oz restaurant, no fleshed out munchkin land with yellow brick road with a journey to Oz and then the witches castle. The layout of the whole area was wrong and a massive missed opportunity to create something truly wonderful for such a significant IP. It was a massive let down. I wanted to see more, but couldn't because of the fences. We left at 1pm and went to Dreamworld and wow.... hello well themed new land. A few nit picks but minor. Hello again black fences, but some where covered with plants and the timber planks which work so well. Everything about River Town crushes Oz 100%.
I love Movie World but there are so many issues with it. My main three complaints have always been not enough mild rides for family’s (between road runner - Wild West falls levels), too long of queues, and the park is simply not big enough. I personally prefer the Warner Bros Looney Tunes and DC IPs over their direct Disney competitors and I feel as though if they would just expand the place and DO IT CORRECTLY no other park would have any hope. Because of the size of the parks alone, though I look forward to Movie World the most, my family and I always end up enjoying Sea World more when we visit. Now that I am loving thrill rides my opinions may change when I go next, but it’s always disappointing to see nonetheless.
I wouldn't be surprised if the Doomsday Destroyer area ends up becoming Wizard of Oz themed - this space could maybe assist with addressing some of these theming issues etc.
Honestly the Oz theme just isn't right.. many younger kids have no clue what the IP let alone the two new rides are luck luster. As I see it the new area/theme is for adults to enjoy but the rides are for the kids to enjoy. I don't think this new Oz theme will do anything for the park.. at least not what VRTP thought it would do for them.
@ The theme does seem to be a bit niche (Wicked has probably helped though), I imagine the rights were cheaper than other options. Something like Harry Potter would have been way more mainstream, unsure if Universal technically holds the rights for Australia too though, or it would be seen as too expensive. Will be happy with anything not DC superhero related at this point.
@@BrisbaneGoose gave it a quick research and apparently Warner Bros owns the Harry Potter rights and had a walk through exhibit in the early 2000 at movie world and even a little shop that I remember. So they very well could do something harry potter related which I think would be on point for movie world considering a new harry potter series is coming to HBO in the next year or two.
Vinwonders Phu Quoc had the same coaster model as Fly of the Wicked Witch called Eagle Warrior and it’s in big park. BUT this park is not very crowded and the ride is Indoor totally so it worked there than this Movie park. That vinwonders actually know their limit and what they are doing with theming for the ride. i been their and the same ride is inside a hella big temple with cool queue and the coaster is very unique
I remember after the rapid river ride incident at Dreamworld I used to bowl at AMF and AMF used to be a part of ardent leisure but ardent leisure sold off the bowling division of AMF to time zone the entertainment education group so I remember that
Bring back the backlot tour and the movie magic special effects show! Its supposed to be a 'Movie' themed park and its sitting on an actual Movie Studio! Cant imagine going to Universal Studios in LA and not having then studio tour. Also last time I was there, there was no Superman character to be seen. How do you not have your most well known super hero there?
I'm still so upset that they still haven't fixed the effects on WWF they have been this way for 3 years coming on to 4. amazing video mate you hit the head on the nail. This park is doomed if they continue this.
I think I know what it is. The previous owners knew what they were doing and how to do it. Typically when new owners take over they do not always know how to do things right. Its like firing the previous gourmet chef and bringing someone's cousin who just got out of cooking school to take the chef's place. Each case you are seeing mistakes in ride design, theming, management of facilities, timing, and even the most simple of necessities. Its what makes food made by gourmet chefs different from rookie chefs. Gourmet chefs know how to make amazing food but rookies can make some huge mistakes. This appears to be riddled with mistakes that although are cleverly hidden with a little spice but strip that away and you got a lot of disappointing mistakes. They obviously should consider hiring some new people to manage this and make the proper changes to correct the mistakes made. With enough effort it could get a lot better but until that happens this will be a disappointment compared to what it is supposed to be.
I like going on roller coasters for the thrill, the wing is only added bonus and shouldn’t be that critical, if it’s good the ring it’s good. You go to a theme park for rollercoasters I thought I might be wrong.
Agree with your conclusion about the park's overall lack of interest in customer experience. I went to a Fright Night last year, and the queue times were a joke. They just pack everyone in, and don't seem to GAF about things after that.
Yep, did Fright Night once, never again. Being stuck in a cattle pen for almost two hours for a scare maze was a joke. I had more fun at Dreamworld’s Spooky Nights.
26:49 On opening day, just outside Superman Escape's logo, a frozen coke stand was setup. Honestly, I felt this was more so a red flag than anything, it just felt like "oh yeah, we know it's gonna get hot.. got 6 bucks for a frozen coke?"
That's a real kick in the teeth. Shade? Nope, won't provide it. But you can pay us to avoid dehydration if you like. Like come on, it's the Gold Coast in mid-summer, it's like 35 degrees and humid. There's not even misting fans.
I think the old school design was cool which they have bits from movie back lot stuf should have been kept and I think expansion would have been better than wiping things altogether.
I still love going to Movieworld for the rides, but it is becoming more and more depressing every time I go. The park is dirty, not well maintained, and most of the staff frankly do not give a rat about their job. The park could look incredible with some basic maintenance like just filling in cracks in pavement, fixing up some paint, or hiding things that dont need to be seen. As for the staff, I have a physical disability and use the queue proxy system, and was still left waiting 30 mins after my queue time to get onto Superman, the girl at the front of the queue was just flirting with guys and letting them through and completely ignored myself and the other people in the fast pass lane with the same wristband. I was near exhaustion when she finally went "Oh, sorry guys youll get on the next one" when it was taking 10 mins per car to go through. Then when trying to take my son on the mini cars, the girl said "yepp ill check your queue time with the people in the booth" and then she just went to the toilet and didnt say a word to the guy who took over from her. These are just a few incidences I have experienced personally in the last few months, but there are so much more and I have seen so many more. It makes me not want to go there. Staff behaviour is a huge problem for the park.
i went to movie world not to long ago and went on both wizard of oz rides and over 60 min wait for flight of the wicked witch was not worth it decent ride but OVER AN HOUR WAIT. the other Kiddie ride was also good and better than i thought for about a 5 min wait its better.
Coming from an American perspective visiting the parks in Sep. 2023, I certainly felt more optimistic about Dreamworld's future than either of the Village Roadshow parks, and Movie World was probably the biggest let-down park I've visited. When I return, which could be a while, I'm probably still going to visit the Gold Coast for a day or two but probably only drop by Dreamworld to see all the changes they've made. Even with how great DC Rivals is, I had a pretty miserable day at Movie World.
the thing is I wish warner bros made a theme park as a studio like universal and disney, hopefully expanding into orlando with the big competitors, at which will make there name more known, with immense themeing and well detailed lands. instead we get this, with such weird quirky themes, operations, and other stuff.
I just want to say to anyone upset by my harsh comments that it doesn’t make me happy to make videos like this. I love the Gold Coast theme parks. I am no Movie World hater, in fact, it’s played a huge role in me becoming an enthusiast.
I’m making this video because I’m seeing concerning signs about the direction that the park is going. I remember Movie World as the home of rides like Looney Tunes River Ride, where we were whisked away to immersive and magical worlds. So much of what Movie World has done in the past few years has not lived up to that, and in my opinion, the Wizard of Oz precinct was a concerning sign because of its poor execution.
I won’t sugarcoat my criticisms, but I want everyone to know that this comes from a place of love, and the emotions I’m feeling are disappointment that the park I love is not living up to what it should be - not hatred or anger towards the park or any individual involved with it.
@@MaloneysCoasters agreed with everything
It’s called constructive criticism
Great analysis, and to be honest you're covering all of my concerns I had when watching the walk throughs recorded on opening day. It had potential - you can see as you mentioned the spots of greatness however nothing in these rides want me to come visit. 100% a darkride would have been amazing. The land is missing variety - imagine if they had done a show style ride like Twister - Ride it out. The theming in the emerald city space looks incomplete. Great video!!
Agree with everything said.
The superman line-up area is trash, it looks like a construction zone with no ceiling
25:05 even the average Rollar Coaster Tycoon noob knows you gotta put down some trash cans!
Unfortunately after you’ve been over to Orlando USA or Tokyo Japan and gone to the parks there, our theme parks in Australia have a LOT of catching up to do……
Hong Kong Disney, Tokyo Disney, Japan Universal for me and i have to agree with you.
While a significant higher guest visit and money maker, you can have good theming and guest experiences if management want it done.
Dont forget Efteling in The Netherlands or Europapark and Phantasialand in Germany.. one could think these parks even rival the big parks in the USA and Japan
Completely agree. Movieworld is headed down a dark path. Dirty, tired, disrepair, and no thought to the customer experience. Just money grabbing. Dreamworld and movieworld have swap places in this past 1-2years. Dreamworlds number one goal seems to be ‘every guests best experience’.
So it's like most theme parks then?
Yeah, recently I bought a fast pass for dreamworld but I accidentally put the wrong date, the staff were kind enough to go through the effort to change the dates. I feel like if I had done the same with movie world, they would’ve just said that they cant do it. Also operations at movie world feel extremely slow, even though dreamworld doesn’t have the best operations, movie worlds are probably worse.
@@weirdthings95831 train on dc rivals is a joke
Movieworld crew need to go overseas and take notes from other theme parks. Hell if they can't even do that, get them learning how to maintain a park in Roller Coaster Tycoon 1 / 2 esp the Open RCT version.
Money grabbing gets nowhere if you can't get the people back in the park.
Their problems can be summed up in three words - Private Equity Firm.
and four letters. dgaf
Yup. When a private equity firm take over, it's a big red flag for certain industries and theme parks are one of them. All the signs are already pointing to the firm spending at little as possible on their parks, which can only mean they're going to get worse from here.
Totally agree! This park needs a high-capacity dark ride AND more thrill rides. The last thing it needed was more coasters.
@@SonicMrSumo I agree for the most part, but, it HAS! They just refuse to run two trains on super man or rivals.
Here's the biggest fun fact, on Opening day, there were signs in the entrance plaza basically saying "This is in Technical Rehersal", yes, the opening day was technically a Soft Opening. I also do love the extremely repeditive music on Flight of the Wicked Witch. Being in the near dark with neon lights and a constant harp appegio playing throughout the ambient music in the dark forest queue? That wasn't fun..
The theming on superman escape is so amazing at the start and it hypes up the ride so much. Can’t believe they cheaped out on what was supposed to be one of the main elements of the new wizard of oz area. Would’ve main it so much better.
Movie world peaked in the 90s to 2010s. It used to have the coolest rides like the looney tunes bugs bunny ride, scooby doo rollercoaster (when it didn't breakdown every 5 minutes), thr batman cave ride, lethal weapon, oh and not a ride but the police academy stunt show that was so cool.
What movie world needs is an overhaul. It has the right idea with the wizard of oz presinct but it needs finness and proper care taken with the rest of the park. I love theme parks and its sad to see our Aussie ones in such a state.
Throw some proper theming around, interactive areas, interactive ride queues, instead of just rollercoasters with a superheros name attached theme them properly, bring back the shows, bring back characters walking the park more often. Its costly but spend money to make money is still a thing.
I think Movieworld should've gone for one massive standout family attraction, maybe something like an Intamin Multi-Dimension coaster, with unique elements that can't be found anywhere else in Australia. They could've had this, ran multiple trains for decent throughput, and have an elaborately themed ride while also being able to fit a few flat rides in. Movieworld is severely lacking in flat rides, their only ones being Batwing Spaceshot and almost everything in the kids zone, so not adding any to the Oz section was also a bit of a mistake.
Still, the Oz land isn't a total failure. I'm a fan of it, even though it doesn't live up to the expectations set by Movieworld, it's still a decent area, though I really, really hope that they see to improve it over the coming years.
MovieWorld is missing a quality dark ride. They should've been taking notes from Disney or Universal, instead of Six Flags.
@@sharktoothsYeah, if you’re going to go Six Flags, you need an abundance of good coasters. They need to pick a lane and excel at that.
Something like the old Eureka Mountain Mine ride from Dreamworld but set in a well made replica of the Wicked Witch's castle would have been cool.
@ Problem is, Scooby-Doo fits Movieworld's Wild Mouse ride really well already
@@MACHlNATION Scooby-Doo is fully enclosed. I'm talking a hybrid, part inside part outside. Would solve the immersion problem, as it would be exciting to stand waiting in line just watching the thing, hearing the screams from inside.
But of course it will never happen because it will be too expensive. Just like a full dark ride, maintaining the animatronics and special effects (not just TV screens) would be too much overhead.
I agree with everything you say and have another suggestion as to where they failed and may be able to improve.
I have just gotten back from Universal Beijing and Shanghai Disneyland and have been absolutely blown away by them, they are night and day compared to Movieworld and honestly having recently gone to Movieworld again now it was sadly comparably bad in comparison particularly because their theming and care for detail was so bad.
Its such a simple fix too - but one area I particularly noticed in the Wizard of Oz land in addition to inconsistent theming, was that there were no properly themed shops! One of the ways the big themeparks make money is with really well themed shops whereby they provide an amazing experience even within the shops and make paying guests feel the need to buy merch too!
I wish this Wizard of Oz area spent some more money to create themed shops - just imaging a Munchkin land themed shop, an Emerald City themed shop, and a diner experience for the land! Those three things itself would both add to the experience of the land and its “completeness” feeling as well as make money for the WB Movieworld team. Have a look at the Zootopia land for what I mean about immersive theming
I agree with this! Such a missed opportunity. I spent more time in Disney Paris looking around all the different themed shops, there was always something different and fun to see and it pulls people away from ride areas and lowers queue times.
Last week I had 3 days at Movie World and I totally agree with your video. Very badly designed precinct. Wicked witch ride... indoor theming is great with red poppies and haunted forest.... however 90% of the queue is outdoors with no shade 90 minutes in the sun on a 35 degree day for a 7 out of 10 ride. Never again. Twister was not much better, only 1 of the coasters was working and when I asked what is wrong with the other, a staff member said they didn't have enough staff to operate both.... this in the middle of summer school holiday period. I won't be returning to Movie World anytime soon.
Great video, agree completely. It's been really sad seeing MW go more and more and more down hill. My expectations for the Scooby refurb dropped significantly after visiting Oz
Re Kansas Twister, apparently the first time it ran with actual riders was on opening day itself, which isn't a good sign...
Fantastic video! I completely agree with everything you said about the current state of Movie World. It has always been my favorite park on the Gold Coast and it really was immersive and world class back in the day. But the current management team have completely run it into the ground and turned what was a legitimate movie studio theme park (that was often compared to Universal Studios in terms of quality) into Six Flags over Oxenford. It is so disappointing to see. The guest experience took a noise dive as soon as BGH took over and it really feels like the only thing the park cares about these days is taking as much money from you as possible. I was really hoping the Wizard of Oz area would be a return to form, but clearly this is not the case and I am extremely worried about the future of the park if things don't immediately improve.
Great critique!
There is also nothing about the rides colours that says flight of the wicked witch. Green and black are her colours.
It's the monkeys costume colors.
Totally agree with your thoughts on the two rides, Movie World made big mistakes with them. The wait time vs ride time with Flight of the Wicked Witch is absolutely ridiculous, I've ridden it once and likely will never again as the line is unbearable. And to leave people standing in the hot sun for an hour plus while waiting, what on earth are they thinking.
Kansas Twister is just flat out boring and way too short.
For all the hype Movie World made about the two rides...... massive let down.
Movieworld needed a people eater, an amazing high capacity dark ride would have done the trick. OZ is a terrible precinct compared to Rivertown. We went last week and the place looks run down and depressing. All credit to Greg Young and the team for bringing Dreamworld back on top
Thing is, Kansas Twister is their people eater, so much so that it makes an hour long queue turn into an instant ride on. Problem is that it moves everyone to Flight of the wicked witch
Thank you!!!
I agree with every single point in this video. Another problem that I want to add (that one commenter here touched on) is that when Wicked's hype of the two movies die down, the desire to see the Wizard of Oz land will be even quicker to fall into irrelevance. Yes, some mega fans of the IP are here and will keep it alive, but overall the interest might be more towards dormant after Part 2. The real winner (to keep the whole Oz hype going) would be Universal, because they own Wicked and the stage show is so beloved, and arguably over the Wizard of Oz, there can still be profit, and marketing and experiences done WELL by Universal (see their Orlando store and Singapore popup for examples).
Looking at WB's catalogue, I see why they relied so much on DC as it is probably their most popular brand of all time, bar Harry Potter, which is mostly claimed by Universal. The question is, would they have an IP that could suit the next update, or should they look back at original ideas and make a world from there? My personal opinion is, where Doomsday Destroyer was, that whole land should be turned into Beetlejuice, half Netherworld behind the Scooby castle, and half sandworm desert leading into Wild West. First, a perfect segue to both lands, but also, although Beetlejuice 2 hype has died down (like WofO will soon) the character has had a resurgence because of the musical and the flexibility the IP has, and having a spooky typical event like the Netherworld can be so immersive and made family friendly as well as keeping the odd adult humour.
This is my very long 2 cents, but I know this could work for MW, and if they are so strong of going down of marketing off IPs (as everyone is), they really need to take a good long look at their catalogue and go all in.
EDIT TO MY COMMENT CAUSE I QUICKLY RESEARCHED THEIR IPS: They have the rights to Lord of the Rings. WHY DID WE NOT GET A HUGE INDOOR RIDE BASED IN THAT WORLD???
Great video, definitely encapsulates what a lot of people have felt about the new precinct. It was either time or money that has turned their ambitious ideas of what they wanted to deliver, into the home brand version of what they actually have delivered. Movie World management has made a LOT of questionable decisions in recent years - i.e. cramming cheap flat rides into every corner of the park, over-doing it on DC Comics every-freaking-where, forgetting or ignoring the customer experience, and charging Disney-level prices without delivering the same level of product.
Btw Mistake #7 was having the entryway underneath the Superman ride. It is so jarring and kinda laughable that you walk through Superman and suddenly hear "Somewhere over the Rainbow" - well, that's if you can hear it in between groups of people screaming overhead. Weird choice that ruins the experience. Why not have the entryway off the Main Street square, like the old China Town/Lethal Weapon entry point was? It would make for a far better introduction to the precinct, help with people congestion, and maintain theming integrity. I don't get it.
What flat rides? That’s my biggest complaint about MW - the lack of flat rides to spread around the crowds and soak them up. There’s literally only one flat ride in the park, the barely themed batwing space shot tower. Dreamworld has a good selection of theme park worthy flat rides (5 all up).
I think alot of the budget was dedicated towards even prying permission to use the IP from Warner bros in the first place. Village Roadshows seems to be in a really crappy position right now, their entire IP and Themepark branding is beholden to another unrelated Media company with Warner Bros, and any sense of affliation they hadoutside of their whole co finacing some movies stuff has broken down.
Warner sold its ownership of the Themepark nearly 2 decades ago, and Village stopped distributing their movies over here about 5 years ago. Plus warner cut any traces of Villages involvement in Furiosa, which you don't really do if your on good terms. You add onto that despite being MOVIE world (Keyword here, 'Movie') and a park with heavy DC super hero presence, Village seemed completely unable to capitalize on the DC Cinematic Universe at all during its wave. To me that screams of Warner being very uninterested in letting Village use their Ips to help facelift Movieworld in any form, I suspect its part of the reason why Village picked Oz, its a evergreen franchise that is both iconic enough for branding but far enough out of the zeitgeist that they could cut a deal.
setting my alarm for march rn
Re Bins/Seats/Shade/etc - What I'm hearing is management is trying to run the land on Roller Coaster tycoon, and forgets to add them until the land is a mess....
I truly hate to say this, but I honestly have to agree which pretty much all the points you brought up with this flawed precinct. Don't get me wrong, they did some things really well. But as a MW regular, despite how much I enjoy Flight of the Wicked Witch and Kansas Twister, this isn't an area in the park I spend a lot of time in.
Also, it was awesome meeting you at Dreamworld's After Dark event just outside Murrissippi Motors!
i feel like a big immersive e ticket trackless dark ride would of made way more sense and been more approachable every one from kids to grandparents enjoy dark rides
The lack of shade in tightly fenced in outdoor queue areas is genuinely mind boggling and unforgivable. Heck, I can’t build a house without very specific inclusions tied to climate, so why aren’t there Government regulations ensuring theme parks have to think these things through too? It doesn’t help that Movie World is actively misusing what few indoor spaces they do have on these new attractions by keeping the main queues in between the shaded areas, rather than inside them. Oh, and another gripe about what should obviously have been called “The Land of Oz”: why did they opt to have guests enter through Superman and turn to see the Emerald City, instead of having a dedicated entry from Main Street? Y’know, where the old Chinatown was. I feel like it makes perfect sense to have had people start near the Boost Juice truck, journey past Munchkinland and then come to the majestic palace. Not only that, they could potentially have utilised the space to thematically separate the Kansas ride from the Wicked Witch one too. But what would I know? 🤷🏻♂️🫣🫠
Excellent review! Thank you for all the hard work you’ve put into this.
Private equity. Surprises me they even tried to improve the park instead of just selling it off for parts.
We should count ourselves lucky Dreamworld didn't get sold off and turned into housing... not yet anyway.
@@BobSmith-o8c I dont think that would happen considering its got a 40+ year old rich history right where it stands today. Its too important to Gold Coast history to just be wiped for housing
@ I hope you're right. But when it comes to the urge to make a quick buck, it seems nothing is too important.
@@BobSmith-o8c true. lets keep our fingers crossed
I think you’ve raised some excellent points in this. Great video. I think this land isn’t that bad, but it’s certainly not what it was billed as. I can see some logic with family coasters, but they had to know that capacity would be an issue. I don’t think this is a failure of implementation. This is a failure of planning in many ways, and marketing in some ways. Let’s just hope that Scooby comes back stronger than it was.
What I don't get that its bloody WB MOVIE WORLD! They have so many ips that they can dip into to use!
I agree wjth everything u said! That opening just came out of nowhere and not using thenmovie release in Australia.was a miss. Its such a shame about the area not living up to whatnit could...they had so much scope they could have drawn upon and they could have made this epic....it feels like this went up pretty quicky if we compare to how long the upgrade to scooby is taking.
Great review! It really is unfortunate they didn't capitalize on the Wizard of Oz theme more. It has so much potential. I know this chain can do theming well, so it's real disappointing how this land turned out. Hopefully, at minimum, they can address the shade and seating concerns in the future. Disney opened Slinky Dog Dash with very little shade in the queue and they did fix it a year or two in. So there is precedent.
I think a big problem with movie world is that if a ride or 2 are closed for the day (last 2 times I have been this has been the case) then every other area gets absolutely swamped and the park feels like a line waiting facility more than a theme park. Dreamworld at least the rides are spread out and there are a bunch of areas which spreads the traffic throughout the park
It would also help if they filled up the rides with single riders. In peak school visiting season at the end of November/start of December I went to ride the Joker and was there by myself in the single rider line. There were about 6 in front of me. They filled up the car and had 3 empty seats. They didn’t take anyone from the single rider line line or split a group of two. They are so slow at unloading and loading the carriages. It took nearly 8 minutes to unload the one car they were running (yes one car on the joker) and then they aren’t even filling the car to capacity. Movieworld is being so poorly run at the moment!
I will always find it odd when a theme park calls something impressive and then drop in a basic outdoor coaster. If I'm thinking immersion the rides sound blend into the environment,not have clearly visible metal coaster tracks everywhere.
Also so odd that they didn't just do a dark ride and also having Munchkinland and emerald city all shoved into one tiny space also feels odd.I think Oz needed a bigger layout and more inventive ideas for rides
for the love of god - no more coasters and no more DC theming. Village needs to commit to another flat, show or dark ride to eat up capacity and round out its offerings. Right now MW is a half day park at best and it rarely has everything running to begin with.
Totally agree with you on this one. Even the “updates” to the Superman Escape queue seems very minimal from the images that have been put out for it. They also didn’t have the area open for the White Christmas events after it opened which was a huge disappointment.
Its clear that the management wanted some cheap off-the-shelf coasters rather than the expense of a bigger and probably more custom coaster instead.
when i went earlier this month. The wicked witch roller coaster was closed. But the kansas twister was smooth and fun.
Great commentary and love your vids but did you miss the part where this isn't a land or precinct as they advertise, its merely two now rides and their attraction queue. This is the biggest missed opportunity where if you aren't riding the coasters, you can't explore anything but look at badly painted show buildings and an emerald city building, which is just the queue entrance. They stuffed up big time, no food or merch, isn't this how disney makes it $$$. I have always loved Movieworld and it was getting international attention with DC Rivals coaster but this just puts them ten steps backwards especially with Rivertown opening. I thought Oz would blitz Rivertown but seeing what they did, its just such a disappointment
I did not realise how bad the arkem asylum complaint was until i saw that clip oh my lord, its like they saw that and lazily said "it looks like a reference keep it there"
27:43 The last time they "re-vamped" the Scooby Doo spooky coaster that made it LAMER by using digital screens! Also, they removed Arkum Asylum? So, it's now gone from Gremlins (though that might have been Scooby-Doo... it was a long time ago), to Lethal Weapon, to Arkum Asylum, and now Wizard of Oz? IT WAS A GOOD RIDE! I never even got to experience the VR version of the ride, and I only got to do it once. The theming at the entrance, OMG with the cop being tied up and wiggling above you was GENIUS! This... yeah it looks lackluster at best, and I did find the EXACT SAME RIDE and Gumbuya World which is only 40 minutes from me (but the prices leave something to be desired, so no plans to visit atm)
Great video! It really is such a shame to see a place you know and love turn sour. I agree that I can’t really fault PicoPlay at all, and would have to suspect the issues lie in the freedom they were given. I think it’s actually really irresponsible and disrespectful for Movie World to open something like this connected to an extremely iconic and historically important film in the condition it’s currently in. If you build something connected to something so special, it’s your duty to live up to the quality and magic of the film.
$1000 MAX for paint and labour to cover the Arkham Asylum theming and bring it in line with the new theming.
We went to both Movieworld and Dreamworld in January. We aren’t “rides people” but went with a friend and her adhd teenage boy. Dreamworld was better. He enjoyed it more. The waiting for rides was difficult for him and we missed seeing a lot of what you pictured of the Oz precinct because we didn’t go past the first section. We didn’t see the poppies or anything because we thought it was only for those going on the rides. Probably won’t be back.
I think the fundamental issue with Movie World is that ever since the Global Financial Crisis they have been completely unwilling to build a roller-coaster that is both good and well themed
We’ll see how the revamp of spooky coaster goes and perhaps following its reopening the capacity issues with these two coasters won’t stand out too much. Nonetheless Movie World’s priority should be to build a ride with goal of being “DC Rivals with actually good theming”
Making a Mad Max-themed coaster would be perfect.
The complete lack of shade, water fountains, and anywhere to sit is an actual health and safety issue when you think for more that two seconds about how brutal queensland summers can be. As was mentioned, there's proof of that with the number of guest suffering actual heat stroke simply from standing in line.
I stand by my original thoughts that (for as much as an institution as the land is) they should have replaced the wild west with Oz. Replace the falls with the emerald city/castle and they could have had a yellow brick road leading towards it. Most of the infrastructure is already there. Include a candy shop that specializes in Big Lollipops!! and call it the Lollipop Guild. Boom, more guest spending. A gift shop disguised as the scene where Dorothy & co. have their makeovers in Emerald City.
My main takeaway is that Movie World doesn't know how to make a LAND anymore since diving so deep down the DC superhero trend.
We need an RMC hybrid at one of these parks
Yeah I was recently there over the Christmas break and I was really disappointed with this new area which is such a shame
This was a very interesting and great video
I was there a few months ago & the park definitely felt smaller & a lot less fun than I remember from 2000.
Haven’t got a yearly pass to Movie World, SeaWorld, Wet n Wild since post pandemic yearly pass ended (4 years in row had bought passes for nieces and myself).
Went to Universal Studios in Japan with nieces in late 2023 and way better. They also open 9am to 9pm which gives you time for more rides.
Finally someone speaking the truth and being constructive with their opinions!
Movie world have missed the mark on so much theming from this to the hyper coaster it’s simply boring for the amount of money they have poured in.
Dreamworld are hitting the. Ball out of the park and will continue to with how they have found their identity again.
Love your content mate keep up the great vids
Honestly, the immense amount of missed opportunities is very much disappointing, and during my last visit (literally a week ago) sadly both sides of the kansas twister were under sudden emergency maintenance. The combination of one of the rides I literally flew across australia to try out being closed and the scorching hot hellish queue of flight of the wicked witch honestly bummed me out so much. But, on the bright side, at least I had fun and that’s all that really matters. Oh, and sunburn. Can’t forget the sunburn.
(p.s. why is this video so good tho like oml??)
(also apologize if this comment’s hard to read or a lil all over the place😭)
Leviathen coaster at Sea World is insane, i loved it.
I hope they expand the Wizard of Oz land because I was extremely hyped for this land and the theming. I'm still yet to get there but from what I have seen i'm gonna be disappointed
Wizard of Oz SHOULD have had a high quality Dark Ride...and then a supporting small family coaster like a Family Boomerang...There definitely is a lack of theming after the first half of the rides queues and it stands out in stark contrast to the haunted forest/poppy fields sections.
One of my pet peeves of The wizard of Oz area is the wizards throne. People are sitting there when it's clearly supposed to be a photo op
I'll be visiting Dreamworld soon for Rivertown. The Wizard of Oz is not something that interests me personally, so giving it a miss in a couple years of sun exposure the paint will make the area look faided and outrightterrible. Justice League 3D is a mediocre ride. I never went on Doomsday, so I dont have an opinion but its removal opens up the space. The stunt show is one and done. There is a theme park in Bali Trans Studio they could learn from in terms of theming for things like Mad Max which would be a good fit for Movieworld
Great video! Just unfortunate knowing what a let down it’s going to be once I go there when I get home , oh well , hopefully Scooby Doo will be better , as it always is
Story wise, this land is a mess. You enter it through the Emerald City and are then suddenly in Kansas, but the Wicked Witch winds around the Kansas ride? Like, the castle of the Wicked Witch is right there next to Aunt Em and Uncle Henry’s farm?!
Good video. You can see the potential that is there but just wasn't followed through on. As a few others have commented, I think the biggest problem is a private equity firm taking ownership. Not in the best interests of the park or the business (group of parks) altogether. Basically when it was Warner Village Theme Parks and then Village Roadshow Theme Parks, you had people in the know, you had soul of the entertainment industry running the theme parks. Private equity firms have neither the knowledge nor the soul.
gonna be honest, after visiting Rivertown and seeing the amount of effort and detail put into almost every part of the area, the Oz precent is just embarrassing.
2:10 this feels like a Brighton Sun films now 😅
it's probably worth noting too that it was storming hard enough from december 17-19 that many of their rides werent running - Including test runs of the new rides. I was there that week and saw flight of the wicked witch run maybe once?
As someone who loves Wizard of Oz so much, this land is quite disappointing
agreed, i said most of what you did the first review i saw on this land. Boggles the mind too why they would pic a movie from the 1940's that most kids today haven't heard of. there were so many other themes they could have gone with rather than this.
Movieworld definitely isn’t like it used to be. As a kid back in the 90’s visiting movieworld was the best ever. I miss the looney tunes ride. Police academy, gremlins ride ect. All the rides were always operating when I visited back then. Now days whenever I head to QLD. So many rides are closed. Especially Wild West ride.
Sea World is the same both parks are looking very old and tired as you can see areas in desperate need of maintenance and upkeep and shows have remained unchanged for nearly 20 years.
I think its not important for Movie World to have more than one train. They are sooooo unnecessary slow when loading the train! Even on Green Lantern most of the time there is no! train on the layout. Australia is so painfully slow when loading and unloading I would even say it is not sensible at all to have a theme park 😅
Great video, as far as capacity goes as an ex operator for Scooby with 2 loaders + a sorter and the maximum amount of cars on the track you would be lucky to break 700 riders a hour. That is with operators on the ball, but generally you'd be looking at about 500 - 550 a hour. This is before fast track became a thing as well. I'd love to see how they came up with the 1000 riders a hour number haha.
That’s Mack’s maximum estimate so it’s not likely to ever actually be reached, just like FotWW will probably never reach 720
@MaloneysCoasters they must have some ninjas running it to get that amount lol
@@DanielHarmer I think it’s just calculated based on completely optimal conditions. Fastest possible dispatch every time, full cars, no delays etc. Throughput numbers from a manufacturer are generally very far ahead of what you’ll ever realistically reach because actually operating a ride is never as simple as on paper
Call me crazy but I honestly wish that Arkham Asylum just got a refresh on the ride itself, the theming alone was at least top 3 at the park but the fact that it was still the same Lethal Weapon ride from 30 years ago weighed it down
I agree.
The theming to the rides are good to a point but the fences around the rides is terrible.
Not having a ramp but that stupid lift is horrible.
Also the painting is lit good and yeah overall just a let down.
They designed the area "for families" but have not at ALL thought about how families would use the area. If I bring my mum to the park with me and my kids, where is she going to sit with the baby and watch the ride? Where is the nearest toilet for the kid that still has accidents sometimes? Am I meant to stand up while breastfeeding? In the sun?
I agree with you, but to be fair the land does have a new Toilet
Toilet is through past the tv screens with photos.
fantastic video. well done. only criticism is that your volume on your video seems to be a tad too low.
I hope they can improve the precinct. The entrance music into the next area's audio transition is really quite cool, but this really needs theming and/or interactivity all the way through. I think the bit with the Wizard would have been cooler if the voice didn't mention the three character names, allowing guests to really take that role. In fact when I first him even though it was on a UA-cam vid, I found myself sort of responding to him until he mentioned the three characters which actually took me out of it! The weird thing is, there's gaps in the voice over allowing people to respond to it before he speaks the next line.
Haven't been to Movieworld to see this precinct, the rides looked very boring. I did go to dreamworld however and the jungle rush ride was the coolest thing i've seen in a long time. I think the biggest mistake Movieworld has done in recent years was changing scooby doo from animatronics to digital stuff. And now its been down for a long time again so maybe they've realised it was a mistake and bringing back the animatronics?
The CEO should make it mandatory for the management team to take their families and document their day without any VIP perks like fast passes. Only by eating their own cooking will they release where they are going wrong. Things like inadequate seating, inadequate shade for queues, lack of rubbish bins, and poor food choices then might get noticed.
Visited 30th Jan 2025 - Theme park nerd here so your video only confirmed and covered everything I thought during my visit.
I had been following the construction updates and marketing and was looking forward to the area. I thought, ok nice they are actually getting serious with a land and spending some money. Then I was concerned when the Gumbuya World coaster opened and saw how little capacity the coaster had, plus the one train. Instant moment of.... that's not going to work well for movie world at all.
Construction went on and Movie World continued to do updates very well on socials etc. Ok promising, and then when the first few videos came out from media and some UA-cam channels it was oh no, this looks bad, it looks unfinished, it looks like a rock quarry and a jail exercise yard with all the fences. (I expected the fences because that's what Australia theme parks do, they do steel tube pool fences, everywhere. There is of course safety elements for rides and attractions, and then there is steel tube pool fences everywhere) My hopes were crushed we were getting something worthy and substance. Oh dear.....
Fast forward to my visit - cheap looking build, ply wood/tin screwed and riveted onto the frame work, unfinished queue lines eg castle wtf!, sight lines, unfinished painted areas, a mish mash of confusing decisions and choices, no clear sign you need to enter the Oz door to get to the rides, lack of anything in the courtyard area which just looks horrendous. A Wizard room which is clearly for events and corporate parties like they do with scooby's queue area. The haunted forest was good i will give that, but ends with blank walls and exits into the quarry jail yard.
The castle was nice on the outside, inside you wonder again about it all being unfinished, no effort at all. Great paint sponge work by the Kindy kids art team. The load and dispatch times are horrible with my wait from the side of lift hill to station was appox 25 - 30 mins and they cycled 6 trains. Ride was quick and fun but then the bland walk through the prison yard just left me angry again because you cant see anything because all you look at is fences. Wouldn't it be nice to stand and look at the twister coaster wizz through all that open area of corn with some props? Nope! black fences in your way. What about from over..... nope black fences. How about just over this.... nope black fences in the way.
They built a barn, ok cool.... but inside it's all steel beams, wooden stair railings with massive sheets of plastic perspex screwed into them, minimal theming and still managed to use a black steel fence as walls,. Cover over the frame work with fake foam beams, give me a filled used farm barn don't give me a Titan garage shed!!
100% the hay bales, if real, will be gone once they start to break down as the hay will blow around and create a slipping hazard on station and the track sensors.
It was a walk on for Kanas Twister but also had such a horrible load time, it's like they are instructed to limit how many dispatches are done per hour. Stood at the station gates for close to 5 mins, staff just standing about talking doing F all before loaded and then another 3-4 mins until dispatch. Both rides are not worth waiting any more than 15-20 mins.
No Oz restaurant, no fleshed out munchkin land with yellow brick road with a journey to Oz and then the witches castle.
The layout of the whole area was wrong and a massive missed opportunity to create something truly wonderful for such a significant IP.
It was a massive let down. I wanted to see more, but couldn't because of the fences.
We left at 1pm and went to Dreamworld and wow.... hello well themed new land. A few nit picks but minor. Hello again black fences, but some where covered with plants and the timber planks which work so well. Everything about River Town crushes Oz 100%.
I love Movie World but there are so many issues with it. My main three complaints have always been not enough mild rides for family’s (between road runner - Wild West falls levels), too long of queues, and the park is simply not big enough. I personally prefer the Warner Bros Looney Tunes and DC IPs over their direct Disney competitors and I feel as though if they would just expand the place and DO IT CORRECTLY no other park would have any hope. Because of the size of the parks alone, though I look forward to Movie World the most, my family and I always end up enjoying Sea World more when we visit. Now that I am loving thrill rides my opinions may change when I go next, but it’s always disappointing to see nonetheless.
The theming looks rubbish and for that reason it’s a flop. I can’t believe how bad it looks. Rides look barely worthwhile lining up for.
I wouldn't be surprised if the Doomsday Destroyer area ends up becoming Wizard of Oz themed - this space could maybe assist with addressing some of these theming issues etc.
Honestly the Oz theme just isn't right.. many younger kids have no clue what the IP let alone the two new rides are luck luster. As I see it the new area/theme is for adults to enjoy but the rides are for the kids to enjoy. I don't think this new Oz theme will do anything for the park.. at least not what VRTP thought it would do for them.
@ The theme does seem to be a bit niche (Wicked has probably helped though), I imagine the rights were cheaper than other options. Something like Harry Potter would have been way more mainstream, unsure if Universal technically holds the rights for Australia too though, or it would be seen as too expensive. Will be happy with anything not DC superhero related at this point.
@@BrisbaneGoose gave it a quick research and apparently Warner Bros owns the Harry Potter rights and had a walk through exhibit in the early 2000 at movie world and even a little shop that I remember. So they very well could do something harry potter related which I think would be on point for movie world considering a new harry potter series is coming to HBO in the next year or two.
@@jinxx3744 Yeah, it's a weird choice to go with a theme from a movie that is literally older than most kids' grandparents.
Vinwonders Phu Quoc had the same coaster model as Fly of the Wicked Witch called Eagle Warrior and it’s in big park. BUT this park is not very crowded and the ride is Indoor totally so it worked there than this Movie park. That vinwonders actually know their limit and what they are doing with theming for the ride. i been their and the same ride is inside a hella big temple with cool queue and the coaster is very unique
We have recently visited the park and left within 2 hours. So underwhelming waste of our time and money.
I need to try to take over this place so it can be at Disney and Universal standards.
If Universal Studios ever make a theme land based on Wicked, I hope they learn from WB Movie World’s mistakes
It's funny, because Universal Studios Japan used to have a Wizard of Oz land years ago, and it looked better than Movie World's version.
Even Universal's Wicked themed events in Orlando and Singapore have been outstanding.
I remember after the rapid river ride incident at Dreamworld I used to bowl at AMF and AMF used to be a part of ardent leisure but ardent leisure sold off the bowling division of AMF to time zone the entertainment education group so I remember that
Bring back the backlot tour and the movie magic special effects show! Its supposed to be a 'Movie' themed park and its sitting on an actual Movie Studio! Cant imagine going to Universal Studios in LA and not having then studio tour.
Also last time I was there, there was no Superman character to be seen. How do you not have your most well known super hero there?
I'm still so upset that they still haven't fixed the effects on WWF they have been this way for 3 years coming on to 4. amazing video mate you hit the head on the nail. This park is doomed if they continue this.
WWF?
I think I know what it is. The previous owners knew what they were doing and how to do it. Typically when new owners take over they do not always know how to do things right. Its like firing the previous gourmet chef and bringing someone's cousin who just got out of cooking school to take the chef's place. Each case you are seeing mistakes in ride design, theming, management of facilities, timing, and even the most simple of necessities. Its what makes food made by gourmet chefs different from rookie chefs. Gourmet chefs know how to make amazing food but rookies can make some huge mistakes. This appears to be riddled with mistakes that although are cleverly hidden with a little spice but strip that away and you got a lot of disappointing mistakes. They obviously should consider hiring some new people to manage this and make the proper changes to correct the mistakes made. With enough effort it could get a lot better but until that happens this will be a disappointment compared to what it is supposed to be.
there decor right next too the rides is soo tiny
I like going on roller coasters for the thrill, the wing is only added bonus and shouldn’t be that critical, if it’s good the ring it’s good. You go to a theme park for rollercoasters I thought I might be wrong.
Agree with your conclusion about the park's overall lack of interest in customer experience. I went to a Fright Night last year, and the queue times were a joke. They just pack everyone in, and don't seem to GAF about things after that.
Yep, did Fright Night once, never again. Being stuck in a cattle pen for almost two hours for a scare maze was a joke. I had more fun at Dreamworld’s Spooky Nights.
Ain't gonna lie I don't think these coasters will have a long life span
26:49 On opening day, just outside Superman Escape's logo, a frozen coke stand was setup. Honestly, I felt this was more so a red flag than anything, it just felt like "oh yeah, we know it's gonna get hot.. got 6 bucks for a frozen coke?"
That's a real kick in the teeth. Shade? Nope, won't provide it. But you can pay us to avoid dehydration if you like. Like come on, it's the Gold Coast in mid-summer, it's like 35 degrees and humid. There's not even misting fans.
I think the old school design was cool which they have bits from movie back lot stuf should have been kept and I think expansion would have been better than wiping things altogether.
I still love going to Movieworld for the rides, but it is becoming more and more depressing every time I go. The park is dirty, not well maintained, and most of the staff frankly do not give a rat about their job. The park could look incredible with some basic maintenance like just filling in cracks in pavement, fixing up some paint, or hiding things that dont need to be seen.
As for the staff, I have a physical disability and use the queue proxy system, and was still left waiting 30 mins after my queue time to get onto Superman, the girl at the front of the queue was just flirting with guys and letting them through and completely ignored myself and the other people in the fast pass lane with the same wristband. I was near exhaustion when she finally went "Oh, sorry guys youll get on the next one" when it was taking 10 mins per car to go through. Then when trying to take my son on the mini cars, the girl said "yepp ill check your queue time with the people in the booth" and then she just went to the toilet and didnt say a word to the guy who took over from her. These are just a few incidences I have experienced personally in the last few months, but there are so much more and I have seen so many more. It makes me not want to go there. Staff behaviour is a huge problem for the park.
i went to movie world not to long ago and went on both wizard of oz rides and over 60 min wait for flight of the wicked witch was not worth it decent ride but OVER AN HOUR WAIT. the other Kiddie ride was also good and better than i thought for about a 5 min wait its better.
Coming from an American perspective visiting the parks in Sep. 2023, I certainly felt more optimistic about Dreamworld's future than either of the Village Roadshow parks, and Movie World was probably the biggest let-down park I've visited. When I return, which could be a while, I'm probably still going to visit the Gold Coast for a day or two but probably only drop by Dreamworld to see all the changes they've made. Even with how great DC Rivals is, I had a pretty miserable day at Movie World.
i remember i called the capacity problem with witch back in your review on tnt. i was thinking "surely they do something to help it?"
the thing is I wish warner bros made a theme park as a studio like universal and disney, hopefully expanding into orlando with the big competitors, at which will make there name more known, with immense themeing and well detailed lands. instead we get this, with such weird quirky themes, operations, and other stuff.