Leaderboard

Well at least it’s no longer “coming this summer”

or you know... just do a decent job of the ride. Pretty average they can't even get the fog happening in the disco room. still.

What they should do is have a paid section to the Coaster with awesome theming and better coaster elements and a free section with alright theming and average coaster elements.

Last night of Fright Nights probably saw its biggest crowd. It was cool to start with, but eventually the wind died and it warmed up. Got on quite a few rides without too much wait. Went through the maze about 10pm, before catching the band Scalphunter perform on the main stage. Chatted to Andrew and Georgia towards the end. They seemed pretty happy with the turnout.

I visited Toverland last year, and you can see all the photos of it here. I was staying in Essen, Germany, which is only about 60km as the crow flies, but the journey took like 3 hours due to having to change trains at Viersen, and then again at Venlo, before finally getting a local bus to the park from Horst Severnum. To add insult to injury, my first train was late to Viersen, causing a missed connection by a matter of minutes, and a 50 min wait for the next train. I didn’t reach the park till after opening. I cant really recall what order I did stuff, so I’ll just give some impressions and the stuff I did. The park is basically just a couple of green sheds, with some nicely themed outdoor rides and some other bits that are tidy, but otherwhise generic feeling. Both the sheds felt a bit dark inside, and the theming never feels truly immersive because there’s no escaping being in a giant shed….Some of the set pieces look great, but they feel “Stuck In”. (Eg look back at how the main entrance looked) The themed areas get better in the outside bit, except for the original play areas and Booster Bike. One thing I liked about the park (And in Europe in general) is the large number of play areas and playgrounds scatted through the park. As a kid, this would be awesome, I remember when I was little I preferred playgrounds to mini kids rides! As for the rides: Boomerang Perhaps the only Vekoma named Boomerang that isn’t a Boomerang. This one is a kiddy coaster, but actually has a pretty cool layout that is more than just the gradual helices you see on roadrunner. Only one train available though (Which was the theme for the day!) Booster Bike Not Bad actually, but perhaps a bit forceless, though this is a family ride. The cable launch did have a bit of kick to it though. Much more comfortable than the Intamin or Zamperla bikes. I did feel the layout could have done a bit more, it was really just a couple of sweeping turns in an extended figure 8, some hills, and then done. Dweverlwind This was a good one, a mack spinning coaster with a really intricately themed station with spinning flower type things on the roof that I guess reflect the spinning nature of the ride. Everything would come to life whenever the train departed or arrived. The ride itself is well structured, with a big first drop and high banked horseshoe, and then after that its all fairly low to the ground helices and s bends, keeping the pace right up. Backstroke This was an indoor outdoor flume ride by mack, made from modular galvanised steel trough sections, so it carried a similar feel to the some of the transportable mack flumes. It was pretty middle of the road to be honest, with a few turns inside and a backwards drop, then a bigger lift hill to the outside of the building, with a full sized drop. I had arribatta pasta for lunch at a nearby eatery….F&B aint this parks strong point, I’ll leave it there. Aqua Snake So a lot of parks in Europe have these dry water slides you ride in your street clothes, to date, most parks have just had the straight drop / wavy drop ones, but this one was a proper enclosed water slide with a helix, so I just did it for the sake of it really. If you’ve ridden Broken Headz at WWW, you know what to expect. Djengu River This one is a Hafema river rapids, but it was fairly conventional, with none of their fancy elements like whirlpool drops or vertical lifts and the like. The theming was immense, one of the prettiest rapids rides out there, despite a challenging design where it was built above ground. Just compare this: To the abomination at Legoland Windsor built in similar circumstances. Maximillius Blitz Bahn A Bobkart ride. For those unfamiliar, its like one of those toboggans you control the speed of with levers, like at Jamberoo/Funfields/Big Banana etc. Except its not on a hillside, and the carts are electric. I felt this design lacks a certain something, like you know Weigand invented the ride for clients who don’t have a sloping site, but on the other hand its not quite the same without the feeling of gaining speed till you are scared you are going to flip the thing over The ride is a bit low capacity, so has a really well themed queue themed to an inventors workshop, with lots of moving bits and bobs, including a kinetic ball machine sculpture in one of the rooms. Fenix Spited by this one, it was still under construction. This is the second time I’ve missed a wing rider by months, the first such instance being when I was at Holiday World when Thunderbird was under construction. They were also building a boat ride and dark ride simultaneously. I thought it strange they would put the dark ride in the outdoor section of the park instead of connecting it to the indoor area with the other all weather attractions. Katara – Fountain of Magic I mentioned the play areas scattered throughout the park, but things like this fountain show demonstrate the way this park just has a whole bunch of “nice” things that aren’t necessarily drawcards, but work to make the park a good overall package. It was an enjoyable diversion for a few minutes and compact enough to take in all at once. Parden Van Ithaka Wooo, time to tick off a new ride type. You just sit on a horse that runs along a monorail track , which bobs a bit. Good for the kids, but you saw a few bigger ones having a ride for a laugh. Toverhuis This was my first go at a magiquest, which is basically magic wands that are glorified remote controls. You wander through a small house with effects that can be activated by pointing your wand. It’s a bit like what DC Villains and its interactive stuff is like , but on a smaller scale. Villa Fiasko One of the best things in the park, a traditional style funhouse, including a revolving tunnel you can plant your hands firmly inside and do a cartwheel type manouver. Theres all your usual spinning platforms, shaking walkway, and inflatable rollers things you squeeze through, rubbing your face where everyone else presumably has. A slide for the kids joins the top and bottom floor. Troy The highlight of the park was this sprawling GCI Twister coaster, at this point I can probably recycle my reviews of them. They are a bit samey (Including that station flythrough element), but generally quite solid rides, with fast pacing and a confusing layout. Sadly only 1 train on, which meant an unnecessary wait and only a couple of rides managed. The ride sat in a nice ancient Greek themed zone. So that’s Toverland. A few more of the park: I’ll be interested to see how the park grows, they seem to select good attractions and integrate them well. I’d gladly revisit the Netherlands, and here, in the future.

Yeah there is a new section dedicated to Scrappy’s throbbing biceps.. it’s an upcharge for $25.

Also, I need to mention that this company operates Dragon Park, who bought the ex-Hard Rock Park Led Zeppelin coaster. It looks really good. Theme parks in Asia are expanding rapidly and I honestly think they are the ones to watch over the next few years as record investment is being made in China and South East Asia. We're already getting what appears to be some solid underrated gems out of these parks that are closer to home than most major American theme parks.

That houses the Scooby Doo's wild mouse section.

You know what? You're right; the Wonderland wave swinger - Dragon's Flight - was a separate unit to the Magic Mountain one. Turns out I made a mistake. I knew a ride from MM had gone to Wonderland, but it was actually the Parachute Drop Tower that was sent there in 1991, where it was renamed the "Skyhawk". Sorry for the flub... Anyway, time for a weekly Volare update: the weather was MUCH more pleasant this week. A large crowd had gathered at the Big Top to attend the Rita Ora concert, so it was pretty busy. The ride itself is practically finished. Not too sure if the city backdrop fits the ride though...

Animals were apparently evac'd this morning.

Apparently the BTS video is no more and they are playing the movie

I very much expect they haven’t been updated in years. They should make a big thing of them and have a some sort of ceremony when they add a new one, especially since so many Hollywood actors have been next door lately

I was actually curious to see what this looked like, so I did one! So not much overlap for this one. AP/FF have overlap around Werribee, but FF and GW have a decent amount in the inner -mid south eastern suburbs. I also did a 90 minute one, which I think is the maximum most people would be willing to drive to go to one of these parks: So Funfields and Gumbuya end up being within reach of virtually all of metro Melbourne, but Adventure Park only reaches to the inner eastern suburbs and some of the Mornington Peninsula (the map even takes the ferry trip into account!). It's also almost reaches Ballarat. Also interesting is that Funfields almost reaches Shepparton in 90mins while actually reaching the Geelong CBD also. Gumbuya almost reaches Sale (and covers most of SE Gippsland and the Latrobe Valley).

Less than 10 months till Boxing Day. Who's getting excited for SkyVoyager opening?

If you have never been to Vietnam, then here is a short video showing off some of the attractions that they have to offer. Some of this looks extremely spectacular and if Vietnam wasnt on your list of countries to visit as an alternative, then this video may just be the gamechanger. Incidentally, these are the parks that Brad Loxley from Luna Park Sydney has now gone to manage. I am thinking he has his work cut out for him!!

Former VP of Park Operations for Hong Kong Disneyland, and current leader of Apex Parks and Entertainment Services, Noble Coker was good enough to give me an hour and half of his busy schedule to discuss all things customer experience on Friday. Noble spent 16 years with Disney, learning from Senior Managers who could still recall Walt Disney walking around the Parks. Noble had some fantastic insights to share that I shall be posting soon on my YouTube channel and from which some nuggets of Disney magic will be incorporated into my new book. Look out for Noble's response to my question, "tell us about your favourite Disney memory" I will post here next week. It was really quite a moving response. Thanks Noble, you are a true industry star and friend.

Dreamworld can be Australia's best theme park. All it needs is a decent operator. The longer Ardent own it the worse it gets making it cost more to restore the park.

Me when Sky Voyager was announced: Me when Sky Voyager opens:

The rectangular banner underneath the main billboard used to say “coming/arriving this summer”. It’s now been replaced with an ad for annual passes and afterpay

Cost would be too high to keep it as a theme park as so they have too many old rides that are past there best and would have to be removed. They would get value selling it for land and development. It sad I used to live in Sydney and had to go thru losing wonderland Sydney, now I’m up here I don’t want to lose it but honestly it look like time is running out to save dreamworld

With all major spending now cancelled including the lazy river extension to WWW and replacement for the Mineride, Ardent Leisure is reflecting exactly what most companies do before they put a unit of their business on the market for sale. They all try to make the financial books look as best as possible. Limit spending and have no long term plans. Unfortunately due to the large cost in the earthworks already done on the lazy river and low Christmas holiday guest numbers , the 3rd quarterly financials will look ugly as well. If it is, or could be rezoned, then land and housing developers would start circling when ( and not if ) Ardent Leisure sell.

I have a new biggest cred spite -_- Was told by Land of Legends the ride would be open when I booked my 2-day stay. But of course it didn't go according to plan. Oh well.

To be joking about the death of innocent people is a sick, immature, and downright nasty thing to do. Shameful.

Well the narrative from the park has slightly changed from ”opening in the coming weeks” to ”keep an eye on our website and Fb page for updates”