Warner Bros. Movie World, Gold Coast - Australia

This report will summarise three or four visits to the park over the space of two weeks. Some of the visits were over the course of a full day, while others were just for a few hours at a time.

The coasters;

Superman Escape
Quite simply, the finest coaster in Australia. I'd also vote it above the other Intamin Accelerators I've ridden (Rita & Stealth). **SPOILER** The ride starts with a long 170m (510ft) indoor section through a mock subway (complete with collapsing walls, crashed cop cars, floods, earthquake effeccts etc). This section of the ride is achieved with a tyre drive system - very effectively. Then, you hear the train click on to the catch car and a blue flash flies across the wall, you hear the voice over (something like) "It's superman", "Don't worry folks, heads back, I'll get you out of here, fast, Superman fast" - and the ride begins". **END SPOILER** the ride has already won me over, the first section is perfect and the launch is really powerful. Up over something resembling a top hat, and then a course not dissimilar to Rita (but higher) follows. The ride kind of fuses together Rita & Stealth and it works tremendously. Rita is rubbish and Stealth is too short - but when combining the two layouts (sort of) - and the special effects it's one kick ass ride. Wonderful.

Lethal Weapon
One of 9 (NINE!) SLCs Vekoma built in 1995, the year after the first ride debuted at Walibi World. I've ridden quite a few SLCs here and there and this is certainly the roughest I've ridden. It has the 'bonus' helix at the end of the ride, which is the smoothest bit. The theme is minimal around the ride area but there queue area is nicely done. There were rumours that this ride was going to receive the new SLC trains this year, but no evidence of such a thing at the moment. Not sure if it's worth mentioning - but the trains were built with 10 cars (and the trolley bit a the back, with no seat) but the train operating during my visits over the last two weeks has 9 rows (18 seats) and two trolley sections - I'm not sure if that's a permanent change?

Scooby Doo's Spooky Coaster
This ride debuted in 2002 and was the ride I was most looking forward to riding at Movie World (it was subsequently trumped by Superman, however). This is a fully enclosed Mack wild mouse. **SPOILER** The cars are loaded (and depart) the station in pairs and navigate a fairly long section of track (primarily on kick wheels) and up and down a few small drops) via scenery and animatronics, similar to a ghost train. It's very effective and I've seen quite a few younger, first time riders quite shocked and scared. The trains then move towards an elevator lift and go up the elevator in pairs (with the rocking motion) - works a treat. The cars then exit the elevator backwards (therefore the car that went in second comes out first) - which is pretty strange as far as blocks are concerned, I guess. The car goes down a fairly sizable backwards drop and are then rotated again 180 degrees. They then complete the standard Mack wild mouse layout. The Wild Mouse section is filled with smoke, lasers and a huge animatronic spider. All this is set to MxPx's punk rock version of the Scooby Doo theme. Mack's website shows off the Scooby layout (labeled Layout Example #1) and the cars (the one on the left) here on their website.

Road Runner Rollercoaster
The usual ride associated with this name. Great fun for the families and kids. How do these things run two trains, or do they just alternate between the two vehicles?

Elsewhere in the park, if you're looking for thrills there is an S&S Spaceshot - 'Batwing Spaceshot' with a cool soundtrack, and er - not much else.

There's also a forgettable Batman simulator and Shrek 4D - which leaves the park at the end of the month. The park also hosts an 'all star' parade featuring Looney Tune characters and some superheroes. Also, there's Hollywood Stunt Driver - a stunt show that replaced the Police Academy stunt show.

There's a log flume - 'Wild West Falls' which is closed until the start of September for annual maintenance (364 day season).

Food is good, and there's quite a variety.

Like many studio based parks - it lacks quantity. Every time the park adds something new, it appears to be at the expense of an existing attraction, which is a shame. That said, there doesn't seem to be masses of room to move into.