Warner Bros Movie World Gold Coast: First look at Wizard of Oz precinct attraction
The wraps have come off Gold Coast’s biggest new theme park attraction in years, with the first images revealing what you’ll see inside and when it will open. SEE THE VIDEO
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The Gold Coast’s biggest new theme park attraction in years is on track to open by Christmas in the latest pitch to lure domestic and international visitors back to the city.
Construction is in full swing of the “world-first” $50m Wizard of Oz precinct at Warner Bros Movie World at Oxenford, with Village Roadshow bosses tipping the family friendly multi-ride area will take the city down the yellow brick road of prosperity.
Village chief operating officer Bikash Randhawa said it would be able to accommodate more than 2000 people every hour.
“This is something that has never been done before, so the beauty of this attraction is that everything has had to be built from scratch.
“There were numerous people from Warner Brothers Discovery, our thematic team and our internal teams who had to create every square inch of this area from nothing.
“What we’ve achieved here, especially with all the talent and the skill set coming out of Gold Coast, and to be able to do something that has not been done anywhere in the entire world is a big tick for tourism, and a big tick for the city of Gold Coast.
“Theme parks drive visitation and I believe this will be something that is so iconic that, for years and years to come, we’ll have families come here with mums, dads and kids, who will one day bring their own children, making it a generational piece.”
The attraction was first announced in July 2022.
It will have two family-friendly rides, including a multi-launch coaster, capable of reaching speeds of almost 70km/hr around a 454m track and a racing coaster where thrill seekers will travel simultaneously on two 220m tracks reaching speeds of up to 58km/hr.
It follows the recent opening of it's The Flash Speed Force ride at Easter.
The Wizard of Oz precinct is being built on the former location of the Arkham Asylum roller coaster, which was originally known as the Lethal Weapon ride.
It comes as the tourism sector continues to ramp up its post-Covid revival.
The industry is worth more than $7bn to the Gold Coast economy and has bounced back strongly from the Covid pandemic on the back of a strong domestic market.
However, international visitation remains significantly below that of pre-2020 levels.
Global events, including inflation and a highly competitive market have been blamed for the slow numbers, with 612,000 international visitors arriving in 2023, around 57 per cent of pre-Covid numbers.
Mr Randhawa praised a recent state government decision to tap into Brisbane-set children animated series Bluey and its characters as a way of bringing overseas visitors to the region.
He argues the measure is a great step but suggests that the plethora of iconic intellectual property (IP) his company has access too – namely the Looney Tunes, the DC superhero characters of Superman, Batman and more, could be used to even greater success.
“I was super impressed that, finally, the tourism bodies acknowledging that IP drives visitation,” he said.
“These IPs are timeless and will be here for a significant amount of time.
“We desperately need that international visitation back. and when you look at the China market as an example, Tom and Jerry is one of the biggest favourites there, so we should be doing a campaign based on that.
“We should be doing activities around Superman, who is famous over there, the Singaporeans love the Looney Tunes and the DC Universe.
“It will be huge in the Asian market and we bring products in that will excite the domestic market and the national market. So I think I would love to see a huge campaign to promote the city of Gold Coast and the state of Queensland. “After all. I’ve always said this, that the city of Gold Coast is the gateway to Queensland.”
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Originally published as Warner Bros Movie World Gold Coast: First look at Wizard of Oz precinct attraction
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