Despite the bad weather forecasts, we were glad that it was sunny for our day out to the Warner Bros. Movie World.
A popular movie related theme park, Movie World also calls itself the Hollywood on the Gold Coast where they offer various movie-themed rides and attractions ranging from motion simulators to roller coasters and slow river rides.
Movie World entrance
After getting our entrance tickets, we hit the first two rides, Batman Adventure – The Ride 2 and Batwing Spaceshot.
Getting our tickets
The Batwing Spaceshot ride is pneumatic powered which only lasts for 50 seconds. It shoots riders up, reaching a height of 61m and then back down, while travelling at a speed of 64 km/h.
Check out the video here:
Batwing Spaceshot in action
The Batman Adventure on the other hand is a motion platform simulator-style ride that is synchronised with screen images. In this ride, we were on board the Recon Vehicle during our mission to retrieve the Whitney diamond which had been stolen earlier from the Gotham Museum of Art by Catwoman. You can check out the pre-show film here…
Batman Adventure – The Ride 2 Pre-show
and the ride film here…
Batman Adventure – The Ride 2 Film
Next, we went over to the Hollywood Stunt Driver show, where all the audience took part in an action movie set on location in Italy. We were put into a scenario where stunt drivers are about to shoot their scene for a new upcoming movie.
Check out the video here:
Hollywood Stunt Driver
Next up, the Superman Escape.
Superman Escape is a ride that accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 2 seconds. The ride starts in a MRT (Metropolis Rapid Transit) subway station, where warnings of tremors make it necessary to move to the next station. Superman came to the rescue by flying up and down the roller coaster with the train.
Superman Escape entrance
Many special effects such as gas mains bursting, a pumping station blowing, flooding and collapsing walls were included in the ride. Check out the video here:
Superman Escape in action
We then hop on the Scooby-Doo Spooky Coaster, as seen in the Scooby-Doo movie.
As an indoor ride, upon entering the building, guests are treated to the sight of a fountain where monsters spew forth the water.
Once the ride begins, the first part is like a typical dark ride, embellished with effects including a swinging axe and various other spooky-themed audio-animatronics displays. Along the way, an animatronics Scooby Doo will tell the rider which way the carriage will go next until it reaches a platform, where you will hear a short audio conversation between Scooby and Daphne. This platform ascends vertically for a few stories before entering the main part of the ride. The carriage will drop backwards into the true roller coaster section until reaching a turntable which spins the carriage around before continuing along the roller coaster track. There are various sharp turns and drops before reaching a final animatronics Scooby showing the way out. Check out the simulated ride here (quite close to the real ride):
Right before lunch, we decided to check out the Wild West Falls, but unfortunately the ride was closed, temporarily.
So, we walked around checking out what’s on offer for lunch, passing by the Movie World Intencity, which is a video game arcade centre, and the Country Fair Fun ‘n’ Games.
Several restaurants and cafes are available for lunch but they seem to be offering similar things.
After having lunch at the Wild West Burgers, we stroll around the area before returning to the Wild West Falls.
Wild West Falls Adventure Ride is an 8-seater raft ride featuring geysers, mine shafts, a ghost town and an inevitable drop as the climax of the ride. The drop is the largest of its kind in Australia.
We then move on to the Kids WB Fun Zone, also known as Looney Tunes Village.
Based on Looney Tunes characters, …
… it offers eight attractions that consists of the Looney Tunes River Ride, Road Runner Rollercoaster, Splashzone, Tweety and Sylvester Cages, Yosemite Sam’s Railroad, Taz Hollywood Cars, Sylvester’s Pounce ‘n’ Bounce and Looney Tunes Carousel.
We hopped on to the Looney Tunes River Ride, in search for Bugs Bunny who have dug a hole in Hollywood down to Australia.
After being transported by a giant drill into the middle of the Earth, we took a river ride filled with Looney Tunes animatronics along the way until we reached Australia, where Bugs Bunny was then found.
After the ride, …
… we strolled around checking out some of the shops available.
After checking out the shops, we were also lucky to be in-time for the Scooby-Doo Disco Detectives shows. Check out the video here:
Finally, the highlight of the day, the All Star Parade took place along the Main Street.
We first have Austin Powers to kick off the parade.
He is then followed by the appearance of Marilyn Monroe, …
… the Justice League, …
… Daffy Duck, …
… Sylvester, …
… Bugs Bunny and Tweety Bird, …
… the Mystery Inc. gang, …
… Shrek, …
… Catwoman, …
… Batman, …
… and lastly the Hollywood Stunt Drivers.
Check out the video here:
During the parade, Daffy Duck also threw ice-creams to the lucky audience.
Soon, the parade ended and its only an hour away before the theme park closes. We decided to go for our last ride of the day, Shrek 4D Adventure.
Similar to the set in Universal Studios Japan, Shrek 4D is a 3D film on a motion simulator equipped with water and air outlets in every seat.
Starting in a dungeon-like room with the Three Little Pigs, Gingerbread man and Pinocchio held hostage, the spirit of Lord Farquaad decided to torture us to seek for answers on the whereabouts of Princess Fiona. The magic mirror then tells the story of what happened before.
Check out the video here:
Soon after, in the main cinema, everyone put on their 3D glasses to join Shrek and Donkey to rescue Princess Fiona, after being kidnapped by the spirit of Lord Farquaad.
3D glasses
You can watch the trailer here:
Our very last activity for the day at Movie World is souvenir shopping at the Warner Bros. Department Store and Warner Bros. Boutique.
Souvenir shopping
Last but not the least, we took several pictures at the Grand Arch of Movie World and at the entrance while waiting for our transfer back to the hotel.
Arriving back at the hotel, our next activity was to search for a place for dinner. After going through a list of restaurants, we decided to give Kamikaze, a teppanyaki restaurant a try.
With the night still young, we decided to try shooting at the Australian Shooting Academy.
Here, I signed up for a 0.22 semi-automatic pistol with 100 rounds of bullets. With the paper retrieval target at about 8 metres away, my first 40 bullets was to learn how to aim and to get myself used to the pistol. While shooting, the pistol was tightly attached with strings to reduce jolting to a minimum.
After changing the paper retrieval target, my next 30 rounds was to shoot with the attached strings relaxed. With this, it was harder to shoot as the pistol jolts back a lot after every shot.
Fire
Lastly, my remaining 30 rounds allowed me to try shooting in a very fast manner by pulling the trigger as fast as possible, firing multiply shots at one go, while trying to control the jolts.
After thanking the range officer, we decided to head back to the hotel for a good night’s rest.
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