Thousands attend Motion Entertainment opening (+video)

An estimated 10,000 people attended the opening weekend of Rotorua's indoor entertainment centre Motion Entertainment, with people queuing from 6.30am on Saturday to get inside.

Despite a "hiccup" where hundreds of people were evacuated five minutes into the grand opening on Saturday morning due to fire alarm, a spokesperson for Motion Entertainment said they had received really positive feedback.

She said the mist machine had been tested all week, and it was a technical error on the day that set the fire alarm off where the mist elevated, got trapped, and tripped the alarm.

"It was an issue that hadn't come up during our testing but we are aware of all fire safety and standards.

"The rest of the day went really well considering we had lots of new staff on board, it was as good as we'd hoped for. It all ran smoothly."

A fire communications spokesman said everyone was evacuated and firefighters went in to investigate but it was an accidental activation.

Holmes Group managing director Ryan Holmes said they couldn't have asked for a better first weekend.

"It went really well. There were 5000 to 6000 people attending on Saturday."

Lynmore resident Tracey Campbell took along her two daughters aged 5 and 7 on Saturday.

"They were pretty stoked, running around everywhere checking out everything. They were very excited."

Mrs Campbell said she told the girls they could choose one attraction to attend, with the plan to try a new one each visit.

"They chose Chipmunks [Playland and Cafe]. We were there for two hours and they had a ball...they wanted to go back on Sunday."

She said she thought it was awesome for Rotorua and she was blown away by the number of people there.

"There's so much on offer, there's so much stuff there...it'll be awesome on wet days for the kids."

What's at Motion Entertainment:
* Dialled Indoor tramp park
* Strike Zone tenpin bowling
* Megazone laser tag
* Timezone
* Escape Masters
* Lumberjax mini golf
* Chipmunks Playland and Cafe
* Revived Bistro