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LOL, Wash your mouth out! I've done the Beast, I've done the Zamperla Giga Discovery, I've done the Intamin and the Intamin one is in an entirely different league. See, the issue with these types of rides from cheaper manufacturers like Zamplera and KMG is that they put underpowered motors in the swing, so a great deal of the ride cycle is spent simply getting to full height. On the KMG it takes 1:30. The Giga Discovery takes close to 2:00 But the Intamin? 45 seconds. Its like being strapped to a rocket at the start. Intamin know where to push it when it comes to intensity. and then at the top of each swing, the motors are actively pushing back in reverse, and forcing you downwards, so you get enhanced airtime in the same way Batwing drops down "faster than gravity". More of the time is spent on the fun part...swinging beyond vertical, and less on the crap part....low speed nauseating swings. And the rotation speed is perfect. Its not pretending to be an eggbeater like the Beast. And there are no OTSRs. Cant wait to have one down the road.

It was the not subtle dig at themselves (well Greg's predecessor) about replacing an iconic ride with more seating areas that I loved. And then the "All Purpose Turbine" in that press release document 😂.

I love the "we can say its due to guest feedback" not a very subtle dig at MW announcing Doomsday would stop full rotation....

Dreamworld hit it out the park with this one. Framing it like the monorail closure video, then the whole end bit feeling almost exactly like something someone on here'd make as a joke… points for creativity Edit: It also includes concept art of King Claw & Jungle Rush in the background And the press kit link has a new file, with a barcode that leads to this link: https://27t42s98k.monster

I think you need to adjust your expectations for the Australian industry. While not impossible, it is very unlikely we’ll ever see either of those in the country. Therefore, ‘you won’t care’ about anything ever announced and it’s going to get very tiring very quickly if you share that opinion every single time. Don’t get me wrong, you’re more than welcome to share your opinion and I’m not saying it’s the wrong opinion, but just be mindful of if it’s necessary to publicly share it every time.

The experience I had on The Beast, if you want to compare it to an Intamin Gyro , the ride experience, feels like a Chinese knock-off. The forces feel nothing like a Intamin Gyro. Besides the rides having the same swinging motion, I class the rides as 2 totally different ride types.

They have done a good job with the marketing, the jabs at Village are funny and the former Ardent, hopefully they can keep it up It may not be something big like Jungle Rush but at least its a good replacement for the former Claw

Emerald Park, 24 August 2024 After much encouragement by @Noxegon I finally made a quick (Well, if you are already in Europe) hop to Dublin for a weekend to visit Emerald Park. Guess I've wanted to check it out since they built Cú Chulainn Coaster , but then they announced the two new vekomas, they were in development hell for a while, covid, and they finally opened earlier this year, Fianna Force looked awesome and had rave reviews....Okay okay, I'm coming Time to see what cheap flying around Europe is all about. Dublin is great actually, Ireland is the last of the main Anglosphere countries for me, so it was fun hearing the random banter all around after a week of being in Austria and Poland with less chance to chat to locals. It doesn’t feel like a huge town, I’m struggling to think of a comparison. Turned up to Emerald Park in time for opening. Decided to start off on the two family coasters, which is probably a good strategy since they had posted waits of 60 mins later in the day. Flight School is a Zierer with the same layout as the one at Legoland Billund, so along with helices it has a couple of sections of slaloms which are pretty fun and generate a few giggles from the kids. The theming was well done too, with the station and queue in a large curvaceous modern building clearly inspired by Dublin Airport T2, and the airport theming is spot on, eg the ride photo counter looks like a check in desk, they have departure screens, the queue rails are tensabarriers and you even go through a faux metal detector, and the drinks at the shop are expensive. The other one is Dino Dash, a Vekoma with a new layout that is a bit more curvy (so a little more kick and more dynamic) than the standard model you see everywhere. Theming wasn’t as good on this one, they apparently had a Dinosaurs Alive type exhibit and they got a 2nd lease on life here, except they are falling apart. I do feel they could have leant more into the theme, eg the fencing should be more industrial galvanised mesh or faux electric fences like on other dino themed rides instead of the standard heritage green they seem to love using literally everywhere in the British Isles. So then it was time to take on Cú Chulainn Coaster, a huge wooden coaster that is akin to a spread out version of our Leviathan. Theres a nice bit of Celtic theming near the ride with a giant statue of the man himself, but otherwise it a standard open air cattlepen in the middle of the ride. Very good. Levi still pips it, this one feels a little more drawn out, but perhaps has a few more floater airtime moments (Which are probably the smoothest parts of the ride. It’s definitely more enjoyable towards the front, so aim there if you can. The main feature is the overbanked turn, which i was surprised to find is so tight it feels like it is right at the limit of what the train can do. The train hilariously bounces through the element, like a learner driver bunny hopping. But yeah long, fast, and it loops back on itself in interesting ways, so it feels more interesting than your typical up and back, but not batshit crazy like certain GCIs. The two new Vekomas weren’t open so we headed over to try out Ladybird Loops. Ridden speedy beetle at LPM? Good, then I dont need to review it. The kids area had heaps to do, but the presentation was a bit eclectic, you had giant toadstools next to wild west next to circus themed parachute towers. Someone looked at the SBF Visa catalogue, and said “yes”. Still, the greenery is very lush (A common theme around this part of the world, stuff just grows) Ok, time to head back to do the other coasters. But nope, interjection. Apparently Viking Voyage, their super flume ride gets massive waits, but it had been down all morning, putting paid too our plan to get it done early. But right as we were going past they opened up so we turned on our heels and go in line. The queue is very elaborate, with lots of Viking huts. And it was that day I learned that Ireland had some Viking history, its not just a Scandinavian thing. I’ll digress for a moment. You can begin to see some synergies in the park, eg they have a Viking themed flume and a Cú Chulainn themed woodie, so you have the makings of a themed land, but then in reality they have a random Zamperla spin n spew in the middle breaking it up. Or they have a Flight School themed kiddy coaster and a Zamperla Air Race, you could do something like Aviators landing at Carowinds, but again, theres some log cabin themed buildings in between and other stuff, so the opportunity to market themed lands in addition to rides is missed. I’ve noticed some of the Parques Reunidos parks like Bobbejaanland and Tusenfryd have started re-theming and renaming rides to create thematic zones, so something to focus on now the park has Matured and proven itself a success. So back to Viking Voyage, the original boats were replaced with the same boats as WWF though with this massive cross bar at the back to deal with the wider trough, and with similar throughput too. The ride has a couple of drops, including a backwards one, and one that has a wild mouse style turn halfway down that gives a lot of laterals (See the flume at Powerpark also) both very wet. The first lifts pass through a central mountain twice. After the 2nd drop we came to a halt on the turntable that straightens you out, and then sat, and sat. Could this be my first evac? Yes it was. A rather convenient affair given the catwalks in the turntable area (Actually, it looks pretty industrial inside the mountain) We were given exit passes for any ride due to this. We could have used them to do another lap and finish the full circuit and final drop, but given the wetness, i was happy to save my exit pass for another lap on Cú Chulainn. So, time for the last 2 coasters. Fianna Force, still not open, but The Quest, just had. Channeling some energy from Tripsdrill, they hadnt quite finished the theming on the precast concrete station for this season, but they had at least painted the internal walls, though anything around the back was left bare. Yes, I like this model (Have done Saven at Farup and Light Explorers at Energylandia), its nice and spread out, with lots of dips, turns and hills, so you finish a long way around the station instead of looping around a compact area like Boomerang at LPS. The station has the impressive feature of the zero g roll for Finanna Force passing overhead too. Given people hadn't quite realized Quest had opened, we looped around for a 2nd lap and were on 5 mins later at the other end of the train. By the end of the day, waits on this had blown out to 70 mins, so like the other smaller coasters, do this first. Yay, time for one of my most anticipated coasters of this trip, Fianna Force. Battlestar Galactica was somewhat of a false start for Vekomas new gen STCs, Hals Uber Kopf opened a couple of years after I went to Tripsdrill, and ever since then I've wanted to experience one of these you beaut inverts with lapbars and smoother trains and interesting elements. The queue is great, winding up and back most of the layout along a meandering path, even with a cool deck over a pond close to a point where FF and TQ interact. And they run this so well. No secondary belts, so they were easily sending a train every 70 secs, meaning a neat 1000 riders per hour, which is impressive for an independent park that hasn’t been around too long, but to be fair, even average parks in Europe usually have decent ops. The queue takes you into a themed room, where a well presented projection of a blacksmith/warrior tells the story of the ride. There was something about smiting a dragon, but to be honest, the audio is too quiet to be heard over the chatter in the queue line, emphasised by the flat walls causing a lot of echo. Time to ride, a speedy lift takes into a steep twisting first drop reminiscent of Oziris. You are just sent hurtling towards the ground into a trench. You pull up into a inclined Immelmann meets overbanked turn thing. Imagine Gumbuyas TNT, amped up, and if you've ridden you’ll know how fast it all happens. Next comes a strong pull of G’s down in a trench, followed a huge corkscrew, made better by being high in the air and going over The Quests rather large station building. A nice panoramic turn over the Quests outdoor queue before doing a long zero g roll through the station. Next is another hard pulling helix before rising up and doing another drop into a trench. From here the rides identity completely changes, with alternating quick turns, transitions, almost like an inverted version of Maverick. No chance to grey out or fill sick because the forces are always changing. And then there are even a couple of legit airtime hills that give pops of air, which is really rare on inverts (I can only think of Monster that also does it) With plenty of speed you smoothly hit the mag brakes. Whew, one of the worlds best inverts, and actually one of the worlds best coasters full stop. Moderately intense, fast past, great fun, and heaps of variation in the layout, which gets a big win for me. If I were to change anything, maybe a 3rd inversion right at the end as a surprise would have been cool. I took the opportunity to do lots of re-rides, given it never really felt longer than 20 mins, despite the long looking queue. And the presentation of this area at least they got done, fully landscaped too, lots of stonework. Looks like it has been in place for years. As for the rest of the park. Had lunch at The Lodge. Did you know in Ireland you can have a chicken curry served over chips instead of rice? Yep, you can. The place seemed popular, you could get plated meals like at the Ikea buffet. Wish a park here would do this, every Euro park has this. It’s nice to get something quick, but not a burger. Only other ride I did was Endeavour, basically a floorless version of an Enterprise. Well, I didnt get sick at least. Forgot what these were like, I only ever rode Reef Diver once. Youre not really pinned in your seat continuously, rather the g forces rise and fall with each revolution. It’s hard to describe, but your inner ear seems to interpret this as the flight path feeling like a pringle shape rather than a circle. Weird, but I dont think I’ll ride one of these again. They also have an animal park, and I saw bits of it, but to be honest, I can see zoos locally so didn’t care too much about missing it on this particular visit. They also had this celtic spiral mound you can walk up. Now that’s what I call crowd management. A park actually got me to consume 5 minutes walking in a circle and theoretically relieve pressure on other attractions. So overall, a good park, well run, and has quite a good mix of attractions for a park of its age. Considering greater dublin has 2.1m people and 670k a couple 150km away at Belfast, it demonstrates that you dont necessarily need a massive population to support a good park (7mil on the whole island, and I doubt many from the UK would bother coming over, its all local support, and they are on track to break 1mil visitors in a couple of years) Bad points. Ok, so when the park first started, they were doing a lot of small park things like ziplines, slides, cheap small rides (Im amazed Ladybird Loop wasnt the first coaster ahead of Cú Chulainn, but good on them for taking a gamble) and to an extent they are stuck with some of these things dotting the park, but since closed due to being unworkable in a high attendance environment. They really should demo these things and fully graduate into acting like a major park. Presentation varies, some stuff like Tir Na nOg and Viking Voyage are great, some like the kids area and zoo are fine, but there is a lot of bitumen, with rides and queue fences straight on this, so it can feel like a fairground in parts. Doesnt have to be this way, break out the big saw, cut out some garden beds from the bitumen, plant some stuff, and they’ll probably have a dense forest in like 18 months anyway. Also just nitpicks like replacing signage in older parts. Im sure they’ll get there, and Tir Na nOg set the standard, so if they keep doing areas like that, it’ll become one of the great parks of Europe. I guess in theory I caught them on an ‘off’ day for reliability, but they prevailed in the end and everything ran smoothly. On a closing note, such is the nature of the land holding, there’s an actual publicly accessible cemetery surrounded by the park on 3 sides. But aside from some noise, you couldn't tell there was a park next door (And when in the park, you cant see any of it either.)

Yawn.

No, see this is the thing. The Intamin one is actively powering it through the swing, so the forces dont let up. This differs to other similar swinging rides (including even the classic pirate ship) where it gets "pushed" and then continues the swing with its own momentum by gravity. It's definitely one of those one of those "ride it and see" things. Fun Fact I heard: Apparently at Liseberg, Loke consistently is rated by guests as their favourite attraction in guest surveys by the park. This is a park that has Helix and Balder....

if you’re over 5’10, the bulky Zamperla restraints are a no go and it’s very restricting on riders, more so then the current restraints. King Claw will definitely be superior then anything they could’ve gotten from Zamperla.

Yes. The original 'Guest Feedback' response to justify something incredibly dumb was replacing Wipeout with shaded seating. Hence the 'claw cove' and 'shaded seating' pitch. It's a way for the new DW leadership to show that they've changed, and that they understand the dumb decisions of the past and empathise with guests about the stupidity of it all. It's kind of cheesy, but it's clever. If people are seeing it as a dig at VRTP, it's probably because they're making the same dumb decisions as the former DW leadership. It's also great that DW haven't cheaped out on a Zamperla model, but have improved the experience by offering a taller/faster ride, with more capacity to reduce wait times. Fingers crossed they're also talking to Intamin about Motocoaster.

My understanding is that the Adelaide regulator requires the restraints to have seatbelts, and the manufacturer won't support those additions, no? Youve been around here more than 20 years. While it's changed names over the years, it's called Parkz. Not Showz.

Those are comparing their 2 modern standard heights. And, in their cases, I believe ‘ground space required’ is referring to ‘size of concrete poured for ride platform’, with the smaller model’s ‘ground space’ including the entire length and width of supports, but the larger model only being the ride platform. Smaller model (26m, Goliath) Larger model (42m, Loke) And then, comparing those 2 models to the older gen Claw, the supports of both newer types sprawl significantly wider than the Claw’s do, as the newer models are thinner at the top, meaning their supports have to be angled further outward for clearance/structural integrity, forming more of a ‘pyramid’ than the Claw’s more compact overall ‘wedge’. Or, from a front-on view that shows what I mean without the perspective issues of Google Maps getting in the way, Old Gen (Claw): VS New Gen (Goliath, same height & seating capacity as Claw):

I'm being ridiculous to highlight a point. You yourself argued that beast was better because it was 3 metres taller. When confronted with an alternate reality where if King Claw was the same height as beast, and asked if that would make it good, you countered that Sky Flyer XXL was even taller. Implying that it still wouldn't make it good. I was simply inferring, by your own (irrational) logic - that since Beast was shorter than SkyFlyer XXL, that must mean Beast isn't good either. According to the technical data - the footprint is actually smaller, isn't it? You are correct. You never said it was bad. You bemoaned the amount of fanfare for something that isn't as high as the beast Argued they should've chosen Zamperla instead. Suggested that the priority was catering to fat people at the cost of providing a "premiere attraction that is unique" claimed all Australia's parks are embarassing - again arguing it's insane that 3 travelling rides are taller Chipped the park for an announcement made by the manufacturer Argued Dreamworld has no excuse to not build a bigger attraction Argued that even if King Claw was as tall as the beast (a bar you set) it still wouldn't be good because Booster Maxxx and Sky Flyer XXL are still taller Proceeded to shit on Claw on the basis that Doomsday was a lemon On the subject of manufacturer issues - remind me again why The Beast no longer appears in the Adelaide Show?

The southern hemisphere’s biggest announcement tease flop (this year)

Never said it was bad, just wish our parks would be a bit more ambitious. I was thrilled when the Vortex was purchased, only to be disappointed by the worlds worst ride cycle. The hate for travelling rides on this forum is next level.

Google Maps doesn't have an overhead of a 42m Gyro Swing that's the exact same scale as The Claws is, but from an overhead of Loke at Linnanmaki at the closest scale (I believe it's a bit smaller than it would be IRL), the supports are sprawled out significantly further than The Claw's are. So, if it were to be in the same exact orientation, it would still encroach on Shockwave (which clearance wouldn't allow for without it's removal). If it was at the same rotation, but the platform was shifted further towards the path, it could work. If not, it would need to be rotated. Keep in mind, these are without any ride buildings or taking the swing clearance into account, it's just the ride hardware & platform. (Uses same platform location) (Shifted platform location) (Uses same platform location)

Following the QR code at the end of the announcement video:

allegedly, Gumbuya’s “special announcement” was just that they were opening more pools.

Providing they theme it as well as the original ride (“claw” supports and all), this sounds great.

Those Zamperla restraints are genuinely awful for people above 6 foot tall or of a larger build though. They're designed for skinny short folks. I've been on a couple discoverys and being a taller person the restraint dug so far into my shoulders and could barely close properly, it destroyed the experience for me. Gimme this over Sledgehammer at Luna Park anyday. Intamin over the shoulder lap bars (that are also on Big Dipper and Goliath) are the greatest thing since sliced bread Having been on Beast a few times I have it on high authority that King Claw will have a better cycle too that doesn't stop right as it starts to get good. Doomsday was an ABC Rides baby brokered by Intamin. Claw has operated reliably for 20 years and both it and its successor is designed by Intamin themselves. Your point on Doomsday is dribble lol

I think we're all missing the point here... If the earth is truly round.. why are they called "Flat" rides? /s

What fanfare are you speaking of? because to this end, there has been none. Its just chatter on a theme park forum. it's 2m shorter than Beast, which in the grand scheme of things is nothing, and Beast is a travelling ride so isn't even included in records for permanent installations at theme parks. 2m of height doesn't change whether something is "premiere" or not. The massive jump in height will already alienate some riders that currently enjoy Claw - which is an immensely popular attraction. Add a full inversion to it and you are then moving from a moderate to high thrill ride, and scaring away a hell of a lot of riders. I think the decision not to go full loop is the absolute correct one in this case.

Though that would somewhat recategorize The Claw, and therefore could be something Dreamworld wished to avoid, the most likely reason is that Intamin just doesn't make a fully inverting Gyro Swing (and their closest ride to it is the well-documented Twin Hammer). Flat rides (at least those here in AUS) should focus on being accommodating, reliable, efficient, & comfortable above all else IMO. Leave marquee record-breakers/unique concepts to the coasters, and let the flats be intermediary people eaters.

So it’s about catering towards larger people instead of providing a premiere attraction that is something unique? The parks are literally soo embarrassing here with their flat rides. The fact that we have three travelling rides now that exceed the height of anything that’s in a park is insane.

Judging by the blueprint style image they released, I'm quite surprised it doesn't do the full loop. I'd be curious to know why something seemingly so simple isn't added to add that extra element to help make it "King". More like "Queen Claw" without it

All this fanfare for a Pendulum ride that still doesn’t swing as high as The Beast…. They should have gone real big and went with Zamperla. Classic Dreamworld.

I took a family trip to Japan last year, and Osaka was a blast! Universal is definitely worth it, but outside the parks, check out Dotonbori for amazing street food and the Osaka Aquarium. If you’re heading to Tokyo, the teamLab Borderless art exhibit was a huge hit with my kids, and Akihabara is a fun spot to explore, even if you're not into anime. For some good itinerary ideas, https://explorejapannow.com/2-week-japan-itinerary-for-families-with-kids/ was super helpful for us. It’s got a nice balance of fun stuff for both adults and kids, plus some off-the-beaten-path ideas that really made our trip.

Claw is end of life. King Claw will be 50% faster and 50% higher than Claw - will be the tallest in the southern hemisphere 42 metres high, will reach 100km/h. -0.5g and +4.5g Construction starting in February, open by end of 2025. Full collection here