Movie World slammed for poor service as Village Roadshow brushes off claims of business woes
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Furious Movie World visitors slam theme park for THREE-HOUR queues, closed attractions, rude staff and ‘additional costs’ as one of its most popular attractions closes indefinitely
- Movie World patrons have criticized the theme park.
- Complaints include out-of-service rides, queues, and prices.
- The company says it’s not experiencing any internal issues.
Warner Bros. Movie World is under fire from attraction closures, massive wait times and inflated ticket prices.
On Wednesday, after a series of disruptions, the Gold Coast theme park announced that its Scooby-Doo Spooky Coaster would close at the end of the school holidays for “a multi-million dollar upgrade.”
The closure comes after three recent attraction closures, and angry visitors have complained about three-hour waits and rude staff.
On January 19, several people were trapped on the Wild West Falls ride when it came to a sudden stop in the middle of the tracks.
A Movie World spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia that the ride had to be halted “due to the behavior of the guests”.
Movie World patrons have complained about long lines, with some claiming to have waited up to three hours for a single ride.
In December, more than a dozen riders were left hanging upside down more than 20 meters in the air after the Doomsday ride suddenly stopped midway.
“Our highly trained operations team has CCTV footage of the entire ride and identified a guest taking their child down to an outside portion of the ride perimeter to collect a lost item,” said Village Roadshow Theme Parks operations officer , Bikash Randhawa.
A day earlier, two other popular attractions, Green Lantern and Doomsday, were forced to close while engineers carried out maintenance.
Movie World said the attractions were closed early in the morning of January 18 after staff discovered “flaws” during routine inspections.
The theme park also said there were minor delays with the opening of the Superman Escape and Scooby-Doo roller coasters.
In December, more than a dozen riders were left hanging upside down more than 20 meters in the air after the Doomsday ride suddenly stopped midway.
There has been a spate of negative feedback from fed-up Movie World customers, with recent comments online highlighting anger and disappointment.
Warner Bros. Movie World has recently come under fire from customers frustrated with attraction closures, long lines and rising ticket prices.
One customer said her January trip to the theme park was the “worst day” of her family vacation and that several major attractions were closed.
“Super busy and lines in excess of two hours for most trips,” they said.
“Rude staff and obviously a lack of maintenance staff, which resulted in a couple of big attractions being left open.”
Another said that the lines for the attractions were “over 40 minutes, and everything cost extra, including the ice skating rink.”
“We used to love the world of cinema before 2022, but the numbers have to be limited. Greed ruined our experience,” they said.
Movie World visitors also have to take to social media to share their frustrations, with one woman claiming to have waited an hour and a half for the Wild West Ride.
The Doomsday attraction at Movie World was forced to close last week while engineers carried out maintenance.
In October of last year, families complained of having to wait up to three hours for a single ride at Movie World, while shelling out hundreds of dollars in entrance fees.
A one-day pass for two adults and two children is over $400, while a single Fast Track skip-the-line ticket is priced at $179, making a day at the theme park a pricey occasion.
A spokesman for Village Roadshow Theme Parks said recent ride closures, queues and prices were not indicative of deeper issues plaguing the company, which also owns other Gold Coast adventure parks, Sea World and Wet ‘n’Wild.
“These are not issues, these are our travel operating systems and team members doing what they are designed and trained to do,” the spokesperson said.
“We understand there is increased media attention on theme parks, however the ride disruptions are proof that our rides and operators are doing what they are designed and trained to do to keep our guests safe.”
The spokesperson said that guest safety was their “top priority” and that Movie World had a “dedicated engineering team that conducts strict and thorough inspections on all attractions before opening each day.”
They also said the company was “constantly reviewing” its ticket offers and prices.