Richard

Incidently, when I noticed the place was shut as I went past, I said that it was probably because of insurance. A real shame too. The place didn't look like it had much, but it's always a shame to loose a park, especially with a nice looking toboggan. We did go through Sale, wouldn't for the life of me remember what it looked like (other than dry), just I know it was somewhere near the turnoff to Heyfield (where Wil Anderson of Triple J/ABC TV fame grew up). It wasn't too smokey when I went through the area, it was a bit hazy. Driving down the coastal road - it took twice as long as it should have ( 9-8 driving days including maybe 4 hours in total seeing stuff), at three days. But it was greener than a central road would be, and some great scenery. We did it almost purely to go to Merimbula's Magic Mountain, I wish I had actually seen what was down along the road in the way of recreation parks, because I missed about two toboggans. As for humidity. I prefer the hot and humid weather we get here to the dry hot stuff that I certainly felt down there in the tennis (as did my wallet - having to buy mineral water several times because I didn't bring a bottle or anything). I don't like extreme humidity (such as on cloudy days when its still hot). Ideally, I like out winters - cold and dry. Let's not go too far off topic now.

Well, we seem to have caught up with the southern states. We got a tiny (a minute of light sprinking at the most) amount of rain the other day. It's getting pretty dead here. It has been pretty humid though. Thankfully not that dry heat (that you're probably used to down there ). Where is this 'Kingcuna Country'? I passed a toboggan down, just near of Lakes Entrance, and the place was shut down (would have been nice to get another one into the count). Where to put a toboggan would be the first question, then where is the money coming from, but other than that, I'd buy it in a hurry. The steel troughed ones aren't fixed to the ground (designed to be able to be moved for the ski season in Europe etc.), so moving would be a breeze. The concrete ones, from what I've seen are not as good. Older ones are made from aspestos... and were largely responsible for the findings that aspestos is actually toxic. They are common in America (who don't have any of the steel ones). To fall off, it isn't too hard I guess. People who force themselves to go faster than their ability permits, tend to do this. The faster you get, the more you'll go up the banked curves. To make this a good transition, you have to really lean hard into the curves. Even when leaning well into the turns, the radius of the curves is simply too much for your body to take suddenly. The most I've ever gotten is a few wobbles (which get the adrenalin pumpin') in awkward curves, I've never fallen. Long story short: going to fast, and not having the experience and familiarity with the particular ride is resonsible for stacks on these rides.

There is one problem with that, it isn't a big one, but it could be seen as significant. Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, X-Men 2 etc. are made by various film production companies (X-Men and Hulk are Universal if I'm correct, Spider-Man is Sony). The problem is that while they will be able to use the release of the corresponding movie to draw attention to their own potential attraction, it won't be tied with the movie at all. Wonderland will be limited to generic Marvel stuff - they won't be able to theme it directly off the movie, such as Scooby-Doo Spooky Coaster at Movie World, which is in every way similar to last year's movie Scooby Doo, and completely different from the cartoons. Meanwhile, Six Flags and Paramount's recent dark rides (shoot-'em-up things from Sally Corp.) have absolutely no similarity to the movie, but are easily associated with the cartoon shows (not so much the original Scooby Doo, Where Are You? shows from 1969, but more the video-release cartoon movies that were released in the late 90's). I understand Universal were in the same situation with the huge Spider-Man ride at Islands of Adventure, and the Spider-Man Rocks! show at Universal Studios Hollywood. The costumes are very different, most noticably is the Green Goblin's old-fashioned suit. The stories are also not like continuations of the movie or anything, just generic Spider-Man stories. I'm not sure if this holds true for The Incredible Hulk at IOA too, though I suspect the case is the same, even though Universal is the production company doing the movie (with Eric Bana playing Bruce Banner). This shouldn't mean the quality of the ride is any less, though don't get your hopes up on a ride that is a continuation of the movie, like Scooby-Doo. Think more ride themed in a more generic way, such as Wild Wild West/Wild West Falls at Movie World.

It does seem a bit unoriginal - though I think that "Just for fun!" slogan represents what was Dreamworld's best days. Then again, their current slogan "Never had so much fun!" is from Frenzal Rhomb's ) song of the same name. The reason they could use it is it was probably not able to be copyrighted easily, being 90-odd years old, and being used at many parks throughout time. I'm not really an expert (meaning I know very little) on copyright laws, so this is by all means a guess.

Firstly, welcome along :-). Thanks for your support - it's what we need most! I was at the Luna Park site a few weeks back (hence the gallery on the main page). It is indeed not the same as without the Big Dipper. While I never did ride the coaster at Luna Park, I did see it many times, and it indeed was a brilliant sight to see across the harbour etc. I must too, question the idea that there is no room for a significant coaster. The company that owns the park doesn't appear to have any significant experience with the amusement industry. I don't think they've quite investigated all possible options with regards to coasters etc. You spoke of small compact type coasters. I'm going to go an entirely different direction. I'm sure you're all familiar with Intamin's latest work in the area of coasters. Well, there would not be a better style of ride for Luna Park Sydney than a nice big twisted (probably rather short) non-looping coaster that circumnavigates the park. The track they use is able to support itself very well, and consequently doesn't require as many supports, and they can be placed at pretty much whatever angle necessary to fit them in (ie over buildings, pathways etc.). Their elevator lifts are fast, quiet and can be built very steep. Intamin also use special techniques to make the rides as quiet as possible where necessary, including isolator pads and sand-filled supports. I understand much of the problem with Big Dipper wasn't so much the noise the ride directly created, but the screams of riders. Tunnels can be easily used to diminish these sounds in areas that'll most effect local residents. We're not talking outrageously huge costs either. Scooby-Doo at Movie World was a whopping $13m. A ride similar to what I'm talking about would be perhaps $12m at the most. Enough dreaming for one day. I'll have to wait until I get my hands on the park when this one goes bust.

Yeah - I began writing that post probably an hour before your post came up, so I was addressing the post above. It does read as though I were addressing you though. If the new show is more of a childrens show a la Action Man, then I doubt we'll see a Spider-Man thrill ride in the park. It just seems a bit odd to market the one character as a childrens attraction and thrill ride at the same time. Hey - there's always The Incredible Hulk - Islands of Adventure's B&M is no short of amazing. If we got something 1/10th of that thing, I'd be happy. (Seems I've become a bit more eager for thrill rides since my last posts)

Disappointing I think is a bit of an understatement. I'm going to contradict my last post, and talk about shows specifically. The Action Man show, was designed to be an easy to perform, yet visually stunning show. It used annoyingly bad techno beats, and some recorded sound effects and voices. What you get is a show that doesn't require any significantly great talent. It uses the consistency of the sounds & effects to create a show that though easy to perform, isn't much to watch. I just don't find it entertaining to watch people dance around miming. I'll compare it to the Police Academy Stunt Show at Movie World. It is a show from a decade when technology only allowed them to actually 'perform' the show. Every line said is from the actor's mouth, every action is real, and every mistake is real. I've seen that show about 25 times. I know every joke, I know every routine, but the show is always fun and entertaining to watch. It is satisfying to watch, because you know that what you are seeing is genuine performing. If such a show is developed by Marvel, let's hope that they give us something good. If you've heard of the Spider-Man Rocks! show, you'll know what I mean. I don't know if it was done by Marvel, but it was done by them, or Universal - and if that's the best that can be done by them, I'd be worried.

I'd think that rides are to come eventually. From all reports, the shows that they've been holding for children have been a great success. The park has been incredibly crowded over the summer holiday. As I'm sure you know, young children can ben quite persistant in what they want. Develop a (corny) show with Spider-Man in it, pop a few ads on TV during Cheese TV or whatever, and you've got enough kids bugging their parents to get a heck of a lot more attendance than a new thrill ride will get. Of course, the novelty wears off very quickly. Rides on the other hand, won't have as much of a sudden boost in attendance, but of course they remain popular, consistent crowd-bringers for years. As you know, I'm all for Wonderland (or any park) improving what they've got, before going and adding thrill rides. If Big Dipper didn't come onto the market, Dreamworld wouldn't have added anything, and more of that $5.5mil could have been spent on improving the entire park (a good park, but from about 1986 onwards, corners were cut in much of the aesthetical/cosmetic work done to the park). I'd rather Wonderland, who already have a great thrill ride selection, put more into giving families more to do. I think that the future will almost certainly hold more in the way of thrill rides. The idea of the Marvel Contract being used for a single show is absurd. I know it's been a long time for Wonderland, but you've got to look at what they've already got, what they've got not enough of, and see it from their perspective.

I remember when it first opened (1998?), they advertised it a lot on Foxtel. Tickets were around $80-$100 for adults, not much less for children. Abysmal attendance made them rethink their entrance prices and they got smaller and smaller. A few years ago they were dropped completely, I guess the few rides they had were made pay-per-ride (and probably some absurdly high price). I guess they sold/dumped what they could of Titanic, unless it is all sitting there right now. It was mostly film/studio related stuff - think most of Movie World when it first opened (before Batman). Walkthrough 'behind-the-scenes' things and whatnot. Its currently being used as more of a cultural/social venue. They've got cinemas, cafés and all that. People from Brisbane would compare it to Southbank. Channels: [V], Nickelodeon, Fox 8 and others use filming facilities there. [V] and Fox 8 use the streets for filming of shows (V is always doing live gigs in the place, Fox 8 has their new show Chain Reaction). From what I heard, the place was originally meant to be Fox's debut in the 'proper' theme park market, with thrill rides and all that, but went for a more 'filmy' approach. Maybe that's one of those rumours that everyone believes is true because its easy to believe - who knows. 8) I never went there. It's the sort of thing I'd go to if I were in Sydney and saw and ad for it, and had the time to go.

Thanks for the support! I've got two galleries to complete, then the site will be officially open. Hopefully within the week, if I've got the time.

I've been piecing together my latest photos (seen at www.totalthrills.com/scwgallery.php), earlier photos I took up there on previous visits, to come up with a rough idea of the layout of the ride, for those interested. I must stress that this is absolutely not to scale, nor are the angles of some curves true. This is more a look at how the ride looks, for those totally unfamiliar with this ride. The left side is a pretty steep hill (beyond the station and track), the top edge of the image is realistically where the cliff face is relative to the track - it's that close!

That's really terrible! This drought and these fires are just one tragedy after another. When I flew up from Melbourne, it is staggering at how dry it is - everywhere. Sydney was resonably 'alive', but it is so hot and dry everywhere else.

Well, it appears that the photo galleries are coming one a day! Today I've put up the Scenic World gallery. These are the best pictures you'll find of the Katoomba park Scenic World, included the mysterious Orphan Rocker coaster. A small Big (...small big...) Banana gallery sounds good tomorrow. Only about 8 photographs, but then again there isn't much to see there unless you wanted to see pictures of banana shoots. Coming soon is a big Luna Park Sydney gallery (20-odd photos), a small Wonderland, about 15 from Merimbula and a huge Luna Park Melbourne (40 or so). Stay tuned!

I'd have to agree with you on all those points. Kennyland, though having great gardens, and cool water features wasn't really well designed for a large theme park. It was much too inaccessible and 'narrow' to gain any crowds. Nick Central though, is very open, and has several key entrance points. I'm sure it would have to be the highest-capacity area in the park. Obviously it was heavily inspired by Paramount's Nick Centrals, as it really isn't typical of Australian parks to have such large open areas.

Well, Movie World is here too! Take a look: http://www.totalthrills.com/mwgallery.php Luna Park Sydney & Melbourne, Katoomba (Scenic World), Merimbula's Magic Mountain, Big Banana and Wonderland Sydney (small gallery) coming soon!

Aussie World gallery is now up! http://www.totalthrills.com/awgallery.php Only 12 photos, but I think it covers most of the park. There'll be more to come! Movie World gallery (finally!!) coming very soon, once it's been authorised etc.!

Yeah, I heard of that place a few years ago somewhere down south (out Cooma/Jindabyne way I guess, because that's the only place I ever am down in that area). There are high hopes for their ski resort plans to go ahead (get the beginners away from the good resorts!!). From the photos on their website, it looks as though it is a damn fine ride, in a very nice area (Big Banana's was terrible - on a cleared grass hill). I'm down that way (optimistically) every year skiing, so I'll bung that on the list for next year. Cheers!

I was down for the Australian Open in Melbourne, so I figured I'd make the most of it. Taking the long, slow, windy coast road all the way to Melbourne sure ain't the quickest way, but I found it was the most fun on the way. Coffs Harbour on the first afternoon. Since I was there last, the place looks a heck of a lot tackier and two-bit. Tough since then, they've installed a Toboggan. Not the best I've ridden. It was much too short considering the height and land they had to work with. It doesn't pick up much speed, nor are there any great fast turns, or decent slops or dropping curves. The next day started in Sydney. The (saddening) Luna Park site needed a visit. The Wild Mouse has disappeared, but there are about three flat rides still there (Ferris Wheel, Enterprise among others). I also took a walk up to the top end of the park above the cliffs. I took some photos from the carpark of the building where Alibrandi's father lived in the great Aussie film from 2000. It is nothing less than an outrage that someone let developers put units so close to a place that was traditionally and historically noisy. Footers from Big Dipper are still very much in place. I also spun into Wonderland Sydney. They've put a new banner on the Bush Beast that announces their new Marvel deal. I didn't go in because I didn't have the time, nor had I organised anything. Instead, it was up the Highway to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains. Katoomba is of course home to the great Scenic World, home of the Scenic Railway - worlds steepest railway at just over 52º. They've also got their 'Scenic Skyway' (notice a pattern with the names?), and most recently the Sceniscender which is Swiss engineering at its best - and for once that doesn't mean Intamin or B&M. Orphan Rocker is still sitting there, nice and quiet. When I was there six months ago, the place was just closing up, so I couldn't take any of the rides down to get a good view of the coaster. This time however, I got a much better idea of the ride's layout. From the bottom of the valley, it is amazing to see high up at the top of the cliffs, the track so close to the cliff edge. The next day, for a few hours was Merimbula's Magic Mountain. I was expecting just an ordinary park with a traveling Pinfari coaster as the centerpiece. I was quite wrong, to some extent. It is a pay-per-entry park, for about $28 all day I think. A bit steep, but it would be easy to spend a day there. To me, the highlight attraction was their toboggan. I didn't rate the Big Banana one too highly earlier on, but boy was this one great! It is about three times as long as the one at the Big Banana, and nearly double the length of the one at Thredbo. This one was great! It had a great mixture of curves all very well placed, and some very steep curving drops. The two last curves are just perfect. There is easily 120km/hr probably more, if you do the entire ride without the brake stick. It took me about five rides to finally get to know the course well enough to try it, and that is one of the most intense rides I've done. Unlike most models, this one has the lift at the end, not the beginning, so you're expected to slow to 'walking speed' before the curve into the lift. Needless to say, on my brakeless run, I was going at Maurice Green speed all the way in, pulling back on the stick like crazy. After a few days at the tennis, I headed out to Luna Park. The place was reasonable packed, probably not overly great numbers, but considering the size, it felt pretty crowded. This was my first time on the Scenic Railway (last time I was down that way the place was closed), so I had something to look forward to. Tell you what - for a ride that is only like 15m tall, and has drops that are about 12m, this thing is rough. I was sort of hoping for some big cushy seats like those on the Coney Island Cyclone. All I got was this hard, worn-down padded wooden seat. Towards the back, this ride was just painful. It can't be going more than 30km/hr, yet it felt worse than the Bush Beast, which is 3x the speed. The front is alright, though if you're not in the very front of either carriages, it'll take some time to get used to the lack of legroom, hold on for the first few rides, for that reason alone. Nothing else special at the park, except the chips, and the temporary freak show. The chips were the best I've had in an Aussie park, considering they don't have any special salt or seasoning made them particularly great. The freak show was cool. It was done by a group known as the Happy Sideshow. With the very cool Shep Huntly MC'ing the show, it wasn't so much grose, as it was cool. Admittedly, my favorite, which wasn't actually part of the freak show, but just a warm up, was 'Captain Frodo' and 'the Space Cowboy' doing very cool tricks with bowler hats. The trip ended with the flight back up the Brissie this morning. I don't have a digital camera at the moment, so I had to take the old SLR, which is in all respects a heaps better camera. I just have to get the (dozens) of films processed, and I'll have hopefully around 5 new galleries up soon (as well as Aussie World and Movie World which are coming).

Here's what happened to the site: http://www.magicmountain.com.au It is pretty rare that I say this, but I think I'd rather be at the resort, over the Theme Park if it were at its former 'glory'.

Here's to hoping! Maybe the Marvel deal combined with past rumours that appear were very close to coming true, brings us something memorable from Wonderland. 2002 - Most Improved award goes by a long shot to Wonderland Sydney for their fantastic efforts at bringing back the faith to the Sydneyers. I can't think of a single other Australian park - or very many international for that matter, that would rise to such a challenge - and come off at the top as Wonderland has done so in the past two or three years.

Well - salt-water crocodiles (the ones that are of any interest - freshies are smaller, and I'm sure Steve Irwin would agree with me in that they don't put up much of a fight) are quite common in mangrove areas of North Queensland. Swimmers at beaches have been mauled by them etc. I'd think that such an exhibit would include mangroves, salt water - all within the spirit of the sea. Perhaps not the bush/outback environment you see in Crocodile Hunter episodes. 'Shark Bay' sounded like an interesting concept. Perhaps Mr Menzies couldn't get ahold of that White Shark that he was allegedly hoping for. If there's one thing I'd like to see happen at Sea World, and that's the boardwalk project they had on the boards years ago. Over on the west side of the park, behind the water park. It'd involve reclaiming some more land on that side, and building out over the water, but I'd probably say that Sea World could get the permission to do it without too much trouble. Though I doubt it'll ever happen.

Dreamworld or Macquarie Leisure will tell you that over the past four years or so, they've had a very clear-cut plan as to what they would add to the park in coming years. They have a few major demographics, where each investment to the park in these past few years was designed to further boost popularity in these areas. First up was the thrill seekers, with Giant Drop (I'm not totally sure if Tower of Terror was included in this, as I believe that it was before the demographics-strengthening plan was begun). Later was the redevelopment of the Wildlife park into Australian Wildlife Experience, which targets foreigners. Cyclone was never part of the plan - it is by all regards a bonus. Had it not gone up for sale (or for much more than $3m), there would simply not be anything in its place. Most recently was Nickelodeon Central, for children and families. With the strengthening of these areas complete. Dreamworld can take a bit of a break, and get back to what they're really famous for in recent years - the thrill rides.

Can Movie World go on simply changing shows to satisfy the ever-growing crowds in this small park? Early this year, in about March, the park was relatively empty - no queues for anything. Yet the Superstars: Live in Concert show still managed to attract a full house (the fact that it wasn't a full house by the end of the show doesn't matter). When the park opened, they had some fantastic shows: the Wild West Action Show, a wide variety of street shows (more than a single Batman and Street parade as it is at the moment), as well as entertainers walking around everywhere - it would take a long time to get from A to B simply because of the new stuff there is in the way of entertainment to see on the way. There was also the Albert Einstein house, which had much greater appeal than the Harry Potter walkthrough that is currently there (I remember queuing for an hour plus back in Summer 1992 for the Einstein house, these days I'm sure the queue never gets much over 20 minutes). New shows are inevitably going to be needed in the future, but it has come to a point where you can't sacrifice old attractions for new ones. At the moment, thanks to their idea to only focus on the newest films, they've got less shows than they had when the park opened - the generic Wild West Action Show was the best show the park has ever had. They canned it to given them an opportunity to attract people with the Mel Gibson/Jodie Foster Maverick film. Police Academy was never my favorite of the two, but it is now easily the best show in Australia, and I'm sure it holds up by world standards. A Matrix Special Effects Show, wouldn't to me contain many more effects that Scooby-Doo. Strobe Lights could be used to make 'bullet time' (as it was called in Max Payne) work, green lights, and perhaps fog would be used to give it that green colour seen in all the in-Matrix scenes. So long as it doesn't have a soundtrack, or miming like they seem to do these days to make up for a lack of other things such as good actors, real effects among others. But back to my original point (eventually!!). The park is just going to burst unless they expand, and make use of some of the high-capacity rides available today.

I didn't see you (or anyone I knew that didn't work there), though I did keep an eye open. The coaster was quite good, though I'd have to admit that it isn't nearly as intense as Road Runner, because as I said, it's running rather slow.

Admittedly, I was somewhat sceptical about how this would turn out. The only new ride was Runaway Reptar Roller Coaster, the rest being old (some really old) rides simply rethemed. I was confident though, that the landscaping and gardens, as always at Dreamworld, would be superb. I'll start with the obvious - Reptar. The coaster looks great, it has fantastic gardens around it, that once they grow up will look great as a rainforested area. The somewhat famous Reptar statue was there, as at Paramount King's Island. It was built standing on a shed, and as an interesting touch, it was modeled to look as though the weight of the dinosaur was breaking the walls. The queue winds through the garden area, beside Tower of Terror's track, and all around you, there are giant mouldings of Reptar's footprints. The station has a nice open feeling, with quite a modern look. Once you're under the cover, there's a TV playing some Rugrats episodes. All I can say is at least they're not repeating the same episode over and over. Twenty at a time are let through the gate to line up at the airgates. Once the train is back and everyone has left, the gates open and everyone hops on. The seats aren't terribly comfortable - they are solid fiberglass - though more comfortable than the regular sitdown Rollerskater. The course is identical to the sitdown Rollerskater. The train handles much better though, thanks to spring-loaded guide wheels. It does feel much slower, and less forceful as the regular version. I'm hoping this is due to the ride being new, and it just has to wear in. As for the rest of Nick Central. It is on the whole very well done, considering much of it is old rides. The area is very open - something that Australian parks lack. On crowded days, it'll be able to soak up several thousand people without looking terribly bloated. The theming and landscaping of the entire area is great. It has set a new level that not only Dreamworld, but all other Australian parks should try to reach. A much more in-depth review will be up at ThrillNetwork soon, which will have plenty of photographs. To finish up, here's a nice picture of the ride on opening day, December 26.