Aussie Theme Parks

[weatherfreak]

original quote taken from another thread, I'd like to start a new thread from this quote if you don't mind.

 

 

djrappa wrote:

Thats very surprising (and disturbing) to hear that the staff at Movie World were rude. Generally our staff are very friendly and helpful to guests and the ride crews do a fairly good job.

 

I've had a lot of bad and slow run ins with Dreamworld staff, so it's very weird to hear things flipped around.

 

I think most of the problems with staff and capacity at our parks here is not the staff themselves but bad policies which they must follow.

 

 

DUDE what planet are you on, more than disturbing I'd say.....I have just been to both dreamworld and movie world over the last few days. Dreamworld was great, the staff were awesome, they just couldn't have been more helpful if they tried. Movie World was SHOCKING!!!!!! I have never come across such rude staff, from ride operators to food vendor's in my entire LIFE, and that's not just including theme parks

 

Scooby was shut for scheduled maintenance (keeping the peeps safe, no probs there, just disappointed, I got over it)

 

Superman broke down 3 times that I know of during the day. TWICE while I was at the entry door for the front seat. NOT HAPPY!!!!!!!!! At least I got to ride it, it is a fantastic ride. I absolutely loved it. Hands in the air over the first hill is not recommended though, the negative g's left my bro in law with massive bruises on his upper arms due to hardcore airtime. I did warn him.

 

Lethal Weapon??????? Also broke down/out of action a couple of times too, but my question is this. I would like some coaster engineers to fill it up with crash test dummies and see if it is freakin' LEGAL. I had my face smashed into the harness so many times I lost count in the end. I seriously doubt this ride would pass a proper engineering test in regards to the amount of trauma caused to the face, neck, shoulders and spine. It is an extremely UNPLEASANT EXPERIENCE, which is such a shame because when you see the track it looks brilliant. Don't get sucked in like I did

 

Wild West was also having problems too, stopping and starting.

 

What the hell movie world, get your crap together, 5 of us had a really crappy day and we weren't the only ones. There were people complaining everywhere.

 

4 of your aces out of action, pathetic!!!! I wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless you could by a ticket for superman, run in, ride it and leave.

 

And for the love of god would someone please build a good wooden coaster here or something that lasts longer than 30 seconds.

 

Don't come to Australia for a theme park extravaganza because you just wont find one anywhere. Some of the rides are great but they are over before you know it.

 

Dreamworlds tower of terror is fantastic, but yet another 20 second thrill. I'm going to White Water world next week, I love water parks. I hope that the hydro coaster is good, it looks like heaps of fun.

 

SORRY GUYS, RANT OVER, RIDE ON, PEACE OUT!!!!!!

[Hurricane]

Hmmm... I hope you aren't expecting miracles outta Super Tubes HydroCoaster. It's not as exciting as people make it out to be. From a mate that has rode both that and Deluge at SFKK, apparently it's ALOT better.

 

In regards to staff at Movie World, being an ex employee I have seen alot of changes. And I'm personally shocked to see it also. There are some employee's there that are really outstanding, and they are the people that have been there for some years. But the majority of them are just shocking to say the least.

 

However go 20 minutes down to Sea World and the staff there are just AMAZING every single visit. They are freindly, efficient and will always go out of their way to make your day great. And latley Dreamworld's staff have picked up. Around a year and a half ago, i'd have said that Dreamworld's staff were the most unpleasant people you could meet. But not nowadays.

 

Hopefully they will pick up in the very near future...

[weatherfreak]

thanks for the heads up hurricane, I was just shocked to hear the ride operators at MW yelling at the engineers, "hurry up, I've got a ride to run", while I was waiting for lethal weapon. There was no queue, I walked straight onto the ride. What's the deal with that? Are they actually engineers? That ride should be fixed (as in smoothed out) or shut down.

 

I don't usually complain, but what I saw today shocked me. Staff yelling at people for no reason, staff yelling at each other in public. Very unprofessional, mind you it was a bloody hot day, maybe people had short fuses from the heat, when I went to DW the staff were fantastic and so, so good, especially with all the kids, but it was a hot day there too, with bigger crowds.

[downunder]

My opinion of Aussie parks is a bit harsh because I have been to most of the best parks in the US. What do I think?

 

Dreamworld: I haven't been since 2003 even though I have been to the Gold Coast at least 6 times since then. I swear you could have timed the progress of Cyclone queue with a sun dial. Giant drop is great, Tower of Terror ok. Personally, not worth the effort for me.

 

Movie World: plenty of quality but lacks quantity, unless I go with friends I'll wait for some more attractions before I go back.

 

Sea World: I haven't been since 2003 but I would like to go, 3 hour park max on a quiet day but plenty of quality. I did Sea World Orlando in 3 hours, so what chance does this place have.

 

Wet and Wild: I'm not a big waterpark person, but it's not bad, the half pipe was a great addition.

 

Luna Park Sydney: just sad, Wild Mouse is OK, Coney Island is fun, and the flats are OK, barely classifies as a park. Brilliant location, I wish they would put something like Indiana Beach there.

[Gav]

There was no queue, I walked straight onto the ride. What's the deal with that? Are they actually engineers? That ride should be fixed (as in smoothed out) or shut down.

 

Haha, obviously have never encountered a Vekoma SLC before. Those rides are infamous for their headbanging. It basically comes down to the train design, so MW would have to look at doing that if they wanted to make it comfortable.

 

I'm surprised about the day you had too, normally I have found MW to have better staff. Shame Scooby Doo was shut too because that is a really good ride you missed out on.

 

What sort of incidents were happening with the Food & Bev staff, and the ride operators, other than the LW ones yelling?

[packfanlv]

My experiences were the opposite when I visited the Gold Coast. I found Movie World to be pleasant and the rides were great experiences IMO. Like another poster said, it does lack quantity, but what they have is great with the exception of Lethal Weapon. While Vekoma SLCs are known for headbanging, this is by far the worst one I have been on. An unpleasant experience is a kind description.

 

As for Dreamworld, it is ok. I would closely compare it to some of the more run down Six Flags parks here in the states. Unfortunately, it doesn't have any truly great rides with the possible exception of the Drop tower. The Motocoaster was epically disappointing.

 

As for other parks, I think both Luna Parks were ok for what they are. I was sad that Scenic Railway was closed for refurbishment when I visited Luna Park Melbourne and the rest of the park is quite rundown. Luna Park Sydney is alright, but with the prices I just opted to get the credit before leaving.

 

While the Australia parks don't really compare to U.S. parks in terms of rides and size, I think Movie World is by far the best and I was so surprised at the level of theming on the rides like Wild West, Scooby Doo and Superman.

[weatherfreak]

There was no queue, I walked straight onto the ride. What's the deal with that? Are they actually engineers? That ride should be fixed (as in smoothed out) or shut down.

 

Haha, obviously have never encountered a Vekoma SLC before. Those rides are infamous for their headbanging. It basically comes down to the train design, so MW would have to look at doing that if they wanted to make it comfortable.

 

I'm surprised about the day you had too, normally I have found MW to have better staff. Shame Scooby Doo was shut too because that is a really good ride you missed out on.

 

What sort of incidents were happening with the Food & Bev staff, and the ride operators, other than the LW ones yelling?

 

I bought a hot dog and got a bun and sausage, sauces were placed infront of the stand. I asked the guy, do you have any extras, like onion, etc.. he looked at me and said I can put some ice cream on it if you like.

 

Now, I have a very dry sense of humor and I'm always up for a good laugh, he wasn't joking. I bought a bottle of water from a shop that had no one in it at the time, money snatched from my hand, change slammed on the counter. WTF

 

I watched a lady empty everything from her pockets into a locker, as did the gate keeper, because there was no one else around, she proceeded thru to superman and had the gate keeper snap her fingers at her, yell at her to come back, which she did, and was asked if she had anything in her pockets, which the gate keeper had just watched her empty. This lady walked right up to her face and said don't you ever snap your fingers at me ever again, I'm not a dog and kept on walking. Now that made me laugh. There just seemed to be a very uneasy vibe in the air which was shooting off staff members like sparks everywhere I went. It then started to effect the crowd.

 

Hey it was just a bummer of a day, I'm over it but my sister wrote a complaint on their web site and maxed out at 1000 words, LOL. She had other stuff happen to her while I wasn't there. We were taking turns minding the kidz. My sis, her hubby and I

 

Peace out people, I soooo want to go to the states for some real action.

[downunder]

The ride policies on Superman Escape are the most draconian I have encountered in the world. This girl op when I got on SE once didn't believe me that I didn't have anything in back pockets and made me stand up and patted me down.

 

It's also frustrating that they are blowing $10 million or whatever on such mediocre attractions as Mick Doohans Motocoaster, I think they could have done so much better for the money.

[sam06pr]

Every park has its good day and its bad day. I work at Busch Gardens Tampa, Usually we have good days, but there are sometimes when all the rides have problem at the same time. I remember supervising one day and Sheikra kept going down, Scorpion was closed most of the day due to some lift hill problems, Montu went down at one time, Rhino rally and jungle flyers goes down all the time, and if I remember correct One of the water rides was down once. This is enough to anger a bunch of people. It just happens. And when guest get mad they take it out against the employees, the employee hence get mad cause of so many complaints and tend not to be as nice (I Myself can loose it). Cut the park some slack. At least they got Superman running. Some Intamin rocket coasters tend to have a lot of problems. Lethal Weapon is a SLC coaster and SLC are always rough coasters! Its more the ride manufactures design than the park maintenance.

Australia is not really know for their parks. When ppl visit Australia is not to visit a theme park...

[PKI Jizzman]

I see that was from my thread

 

To reiterate my park experiences in Australia...

 

Dreamworld:

-Ride Operators, Random park associates....ASKING if I'd like my picture with them while I was either watching one of the park entertainers or watching the ride. I didn't say anything at all, I was just standing there enjoying myself! How awesome!

-All the ride ops were working pretty well, and had a personality! They would say, "Hey how's the park today?" And things like that, making sure I was having a nice time.

-All rides were operating during my visit

-Longest wait was for Tower of Terror and that was maybe 20 minutes.

-Park was clean, well kept

-Food was decent

-Giant Drop kicks ass!!!!

 

Movie World:

-Very nice park, very very clean

-All operations besides the Lethal Weapon crew were great. LW were a bunch of bratty teenage girls talking in the control box while everyone else waited on them. Boo.

-Scooby Doo is my favorite coaster. Pure amazingness

-Superman was down: Scheduled maintenance..... =(

-Park food was soooo gooooddddd

-It's a nice, small park

 

Wet 'n Wild:

-All rides were open and running efficiently

-The Half-Pipe was well kept!

-The speed slides suck ass

-Water wasn't too cold...awesome

-Food was great!

-Old school slides...a few new

-Nice park, in need of updating

[weatherfreak]

Australia is not really know for their parks. When ppl visit Australia is not to visit a theme park...

 

I know, I already mentioned that, that's why I want to come to the states and do a Huge road trip.