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It does strike me as a lost opportunity to use it for the ride experience by having it facing riders as well. Maybe it's a little too close to what Arkham Asylum tries to do, but Joker music on the lift hill and the face lighting up to coincide with a Mark Hamill laugh as the train nears and crests the top. It justifies the existence of the head and gives the ride something of a theme without going overboard with an attempted storyline.

It seems that as you walk through the gates next to GL, you'll go around to the left, then that will be the start of the queue/theming area. And there will be more screens/walls just to the right too (Photo TPSN)

Traveling and crossing borders in Mainland Europe isn't too bad, so I took the opportunity to visit again two parks in nearby countries north of France! Part 1: Efteling As I moved on from simply visiting and credding to filming videos at parks. I started appreciating places that actually care about theming and landscaping a bit more. I had visited Efteling 2 years ago, and while I thoroughly enjoyed that trip, I felt I needed to go again sometime to fully enjoy the merits of the park. That's why to my surprise, I did not need a new coaster, as the addition of Symbolica and night opening were attractive enough to get me back there! I arrived shortly after the 10 am opening. The entrance must be one of the most distincive and majestic among theme parks. I went against my instincts by strolling along the lake to take some pictures. Efteling is a really large park, and the distance covered by the lake is only a fraction of it! I had surprisingly pleasant memories of Bob, one rare surviving iteration of the Intamin Swiss Bob model. My ride this time was not as enjoyable - the fun swinging and relatively steep drops couldn't make up for what was some noticable bouncing in the train. I waited 45 minutes, completely forgetting about the single rider line nearby. Oh well... Went for the second row on Baron 1898 and got right wing seat. It was a bit underwhelming. The drop didn't feel as floaty and impressive as I remembered, and I felt a couple of minor headbanging during the inversions. Nothing too serious of course, but still surprising. Hopefully I got a couple of rerides afterwards, but that's for a another paragraph (Ugh, my camera sometimes fails to get a non-blurred picture. Frustrating!) Joris ended that run of (slight) disappointment as it happily matched my expectations. Went for Vuur first, and it was running pretty well! Good pace and a lot of fun laterals. Ever since my Poland trip, I have the unreasonable curiosity in (re)riding any old Vekoma to put to the test my recent love for the Dutch manufacturer. Equipped with vest restraints, Python turned out only slightly uncomfortable. There was some notable rattle during the drop and vertical loops, but the ride as a whole felt more uneventful than really horrible. The Pagoda is the only ride (to my knowledge) which provides great overviews of the park and where you can bring your camera. It's really valuable since the views from up in the air are quite impressive! Symbolica was another eye-drawer from outside. Really like this type of architecture as I find it fitting for the carefree atmosphere of a theme park, and here it is implemented really well! This dark ride was the 2017 and it shows its infant age. Really sophisticated and enjoyable addition. The scenery is appealing except for the stairs leading down to the station which lack some details. Loved the atmosphere and wish I could have done it more if it weren't for the substantial queue wait... Wanting to give Baron another try, I was rewarded with a fun lap at the front! It eliminated the (minor) jolts issue and provided a much more impressive drop! At this point I went across all the park to take more pictures. I also wanted to buy some merch before the crowds flood the stores right before closure. Went back to Joris only to find it temporarily closed for some minor technical problem. The issue was quickly solved however, which meant I ended up waiting a little less for my lap on the Water side! That one is certainly my favourite of the two. Some really good hops in quick succession here (That picture was taken hours before) Vliegende Hollander never impressed me in videos or on-ride. Not a single exciting layout element and the boat section is almost completely in the dark. Too bad for a ride with such a fab queueline and building Night ride on Baron was undoubtedly the best I've had. I even got a small pop of airtime of the final hill, which was really cool I then wasted too much time on taking (yet more) pictures, and it ended up costing me a final ride on Joris. Unfortunate, but Baron was still an excellent way to end the day on a high note! Next in Part 2 will be Plopsaland with another night opening!

The site is still under construction so not everything is correct. Expect the usual. 2 returning mazes and 2 new mazes. Just because all 4 images under the Maze section have 'NEW' on them does not mean there will be 4 new mazes. 2 are for the returning mazes and the images that are there are place holders until they have actual images to post before the site is live.

6 mazes hey...

Gonna leave this here https://frightnights.com.au/visitor-info/calendar.aspx Shows Mazes: Precincts:

It is going to be a great ride. The theme was originally supposed to be more GOT meets war craft and as with Abyss. I would have preferred something a bit dirtier/harder/solid, given the nature of the ride but that's just an opinion. Well done to Phillip and the incredibly talented team at Atomiq who of course themed the Claw ride at DW and Abyss and Kraken, Theme builders and James at Creative Works, and with the lap restraints will be a big hit this year hopefully. Fingers crossed for the team as I know they always work EXTREMELY hard on these things for each new season. Good luck and I hope it rocks! M.

Doesn't mean no one has read it. It is kind of common sense. When you go behind scenes somewhere you don't go giving away all their secrets. If i was them and I brought a group of people in for auditions backstage, then saw that one of those people posted information that was not suppose to be public knowledge at the time, Id probably get rid of their application. They had the same issue with someone last year.

It's the a new version on the Claw but with 40 seats not 32. Giving it a better capacity and it's slightly taller. But the lap bars will be this rides main point of difference over the claw and will sure be something Awesome to try.

Who said anything about audio on the trains? I know I've been pretty vocal in the past about how pointless and poorly executed it is on the rides that have it in Australia, which is why I'd only opt for fixed speakers that actually serve a predetermined purpose.

Love the idea of music up the lift hill on Rivals. Mako at Seaworld Orlando IMO does the lift hill soundtrack really well. It builds great anticipation and excitement, and carries the atmosphere/theme from inside the station up the chain lift

wouldn't be hard to retrofit a few speakers on the lift hill, rather than having on board audio systems. A simple IR beam across the base of the lift to trigger the audio playback, and have it timed perfectly to the lift chain speed... Imagine that Laugh booming out over the park? Superman isn't on-board audio, which is why it works. On board systems are a lot harder to get right, and keep working on an Aus budget.

Yeah but let's be honest - it doesn't feel like it at Disney. You might queue for an hour, but the in-queue easter eggs, interactivity, interesting things to look at (and in many - air conditioning) makes the time go quickly (or at the very least you overlook the loading platform and can watch others go on \ come off it and laugh at reactions). Plus in many rides, because they're continuous load, the queue constantly moves, or moves in big jumps (eg: when they load the Mansion). Contrast that to our local parks - where operations are horrendous and seem to aim for the slow-speed records, where guests aren't grouped until after the train is parked, where queues are hot, bare walls (or not much anyway), where the queue stays still for 5 minutes at a time... THAT makes it seem like a long queue, and therefore a long day. You do feel tired after a day at Disney, but it really doesn't hit you until you are travelling back to your accommodation. (i know you know this, i'm just spelling it out for those who don't see the difference.)

I wish the Joker face was on both sides. From inside the park it will look like a mess.

And staff DO have evacuation drills on at least a weekly basis. When I worked at VRL each ride was on a rotation for an evacuation drill once the park closed (say for example... Scooby was on Mondays and Wednesdays, west was on Tuesdays, Superman on Fridays etc). It is one thing I will more than happily speak volumes of and commend VRL when I worked there, and that was the training. Just to be signed off on scooby I had 2x morning sessions of 3 hours just doing evacuation drills, as well as a whole day (8am - 6pm) of training with another cast member before being signed off to operate the ride as well as regular refresher days. IMO this licensing stuff is complete BS and isn't needed, constant training and monitoring however is and from my personal experience isn't an issue in the slightest at least with VRL. I can't comment on Ardent's training as I have not worked for them, but I'm fairly sure it would be pretty darn similar. Also, the main people behind the control panels are actually supervisors and as Greg Yong stated in a video that all of the supervisors have been in the business for at least 12-24 months. They are all trained as cast members on each attraction they are signed off on first, before being allowed behind the main controls so they know all the in's and outs. I can sort of see why a license could be beneficial for them... but honestly, with the right training (which they receive) it's still IMO redundant. Just another way for the govt. to make even more money.

The Joker head has been joined together and put onto stilts while the final works are completed. Mack officials are also throughout the site (particularly coming in and out of the station)

Actually. The website does say 6 mazes. The "New" word with the lock sign is indicating that it is a new maze. So, in that case, there are 6 mazes.

Nobody said anything about 6 mazes?