downunder

It would have to be pretty impressive to even be the best coaster at Movie World.

I went to HHN in Hollywood last week, it was amazing, the Exorcist was killer - went to the park in the day too for the first time in 15 years. Only thing that sucked was the Jabberwokeez show, that did nothing for me and had nothing to do with Halloween. Knotts Scary Farm was very strong this year also, as was Dark Harbor at the Queen Mary in Long Beach. Pleasant surprise was the Haunt at California's Great America (got to do Fear VR and their Asylum maze before they closed). I'd love to do that Asylum thing on the 29th, and the Ultimate Terror Tour and Star Tour, but sporting commitments will probably keep me away.

I just did my first VR coaster which was the SLC at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom on Sunday. It was fun without being mind-blowing, and took my mind off the beating I was getting from the Vekoma. On this one there's active shooter element when you're going up the lift hill. You move your head to aim and tap on the right side of the goggles to shoot. After that, you're there for the ride. I think it will be a fun addition and being an upcharge should regulate demand and not make the queue a nightmare like the free-for-all at Six Flags (we got lucky and stumbled into a season passholder ERT and didn't have to wait).

From Dusk Til Dawn should be good, the Gold Coast has a rather vibrant stripper community (a friend told me) to fill some of the roles lol.

I totally understand and respect your point of view and preferences - it can be a love or hate kind of place. I'm the opposite, it was the lack of concrete that I liked personally, and being in the middle of nowhere in a forest - to me it was kind of an antidote to the big corporate parks (and I was on the last day of a tour that had plenty of big parks involved). I thought the dinky carnie rides were cute (some were a lot of fun), but the high points were what I remember with the most fondness - I spent a big part of my day (and night) riding Phoenix, the bumper cars (the GCI guys were getting them airborne lol), and the Haunted House. Since I went, Black Diamond, Flying Turns and Impulse look like fun additions.

^OMG Margot Robbie, that would be too awesome. I must admit (as many others have observed), the precinct looks great. Hopefully they won't stop at Doomsday for rides.

I could make a side trip to Tennessee the week after next and I've got Tuesday and Wednesday free, and they're open Wednesday. I'll have to come over from the west coast...dammit I can't decide. Nah do it next year. Gosh, RMC keeps hitting home runs, though the problems with the launch system may scare off some future clients. From what I heard the contractor they used for the launch had never done something like that before. So many people I know went there and missed out, but it looks like it's fine now. I like that Knoebels ranks so highly, it's just such a cool place and Phoenix is more a near-death experience than a coaster. Extreme airtime plus buzz bar equals coaster heaven.

Here's the results, I preferred the Hawker Poll for rating coasters, but winning one is a good selling point for a park: http://goldenticketawards.com/2016-2/ Of note: Europa voted best park, ahead of Cedar Point Fury 325 voted best coaster, ahead of Millennium Force Lightning Rod at Dollywood voted best new ride If the Golden Ticket Awards were just for Australia, I wonder who'd win...actually I don't..I think Movie World might do OK.

^LOL that makes total sense, or maybe they are left over boxes from their last Mack installation being used as a decoy. Maybe next week they'll put out boxes with B & M spray painted on them, or...Vekoma.

^Intamin fanboy wishful thinking, wait, I'm one of those fanboys lol. But dammit churro cart guy said it was for a new coaster experience inside Scooby where the turntable decides which coaster you get (I'm going for ridiculous here, but that would be cool). Generally if you want to be told confidential stuff, be someone who won't tell it to anyone else, and have a rather binding NDA accompanying that for good measure helps.

Nice report, I spent 5.5 days at Cedar Point the first time I visited, though that was before fast passes. I just loved the location, cruised Lake Erie and generally chilled as well. Glad you got heaps of rides in. La Wronge is just such a bad park, lovely location, a few good coasters, but they operate their rides with absolute contempt for customers. With a gold flash pass we still had to queue for 45 mins for that crap SLC. I hear you on Vortex at CW, at night, that was one of the most amazing experiences, like someone pushed the fast forward button. The trains were still swinging from side to side in the brake run when I rode it.

^Don't get me wrong I thoroughly enjoyed Helix, it sits just outside my top ten (the lack of a Mitch Hawker poll means I haven't had to think about my personal ratings for a while). It's got a great variety of elements and being on the hill makes it so much more awesome, it reminds a bit of Maverick except without the initial drop. If MW did get something like Helix that would be fine by me, it's a coaster that doesn't get boring after many re-rides, which is good if a big part of the market they're aiming for is repeat visits. At the end of the day we've all got our own preferences, the more extreme the better for me - I did aerobatic flying last year (I'm a shithouse pilot) so I could do something more extreme than a coaster and that wasn't enough lol.

It might take 7 of those 8 minutes to get up that 1000 foot lift hill lol. I'm more intrigued by this project now that Mack is involved, as the in-the-know assessment (people who know but can't tell) seems to be it will be mind boggling, but Mack have built some nice coasters, though nothing OMG or super large (Helix and Blue Fire are 130+ feet and Flash has a drop under 200 feet). Haven't been on Flash, but Helix and Blue Fire I have - they are really good coasters IMO, but didn't blow my mind. Blue Fire's launch is softer than Superman Escape and Helix is so much fun, but it owes a lot to it's interaction with the terrain. At the end of the day, Mack can be commissioned to do any project they are willing to take on, so let's see what happens. I'm sure it will be fun even if it isn't up to lofty expectations or imaginings.

Cool report. Mind Bender is my fave Schwarzkopf, marathoned that when I was there. Monster Mansion is such a colourful, interesting, dark ride, I really liked that - surprising to find a ride like that at a six flags park. And you brought back not-so-fond memories of ball breaker the ride lol. If I recall correctly, the rapids ride there was absolutely insane. Lucky I was staying walking distance from the park so I could change my clothes.

^Yeah but unfortunately for everyone else I had to take the bag off at the end of the maze. In all seriousness the maze got old pretty fast. My fave mazes of all time would have to be the two Michael Myers mazes HHN Hollywood did, if MW did that I'd be happy.

^I did one at Rob Zombie's haunt when it was in LA where you had to wear a bag on your head the whole time in the maze and feel your way through.

Cool, that sounds quite accessible, which gives it broader appeal. I might even ride it lol.

So how intense is the ride, on a scale of 1 to vomitron?

It's just so riveting.

I don't mind what the franchise is as long as it's a good maze. I loved the mazes in 2014, but thought 2015 was a bit of a step backwards. Friday the 13th seemed odd, you see the aftermath of Jason's rampage or you see Jason, but he's was never killing anyone in the maze. I guess I'm used to HHN where Jason is offing someone in spectacular fashion in almost every room. Saw Wyrmwood after Fright Nights, loved it, but the maze seemed kind of anonymous. Wolf Creek seemed to have most of the gory bits removed from 2014 in it's relocated form. I am being picky, it was still a lot of fun in 2014 and 2015 (only years I've been). I am curious about American Horror Story, I've never seen the show, though it seems popular. I'm doing HHN later this month, so I might have some homework to do. Hopefully the maze will make sense even without seeing the show. Looking forward to the Exorcist maze over the other side of the Pacific, this could be incredible or awful, my bet is they'll really pull it off.

I've been looking to book, but I notice they don't have any dates listed beyond September at the moment. I wouldn't mind doing it during the day before the Ultimate Terror Tour at night in October. Hopefully they'll consider it viable enough to continue beyond September.

This coaster is supposed to be monstrous, but Mack haven't built anything bigger than just over 200 foot. Maybe Mack are going bigger than they've gone before? Bu then again a coaster doesn't have to be huge to be awesome...cough...Maverick..cough.

Since when did wishful thinking become actual news?

^Of course they could, and it should be a fun ride. Superman Escape is (debatably) the star at the moment, and another launch coaster doesn't seem like a complimentary attraction (especially in a park with a small number of coasters), that's just my opinion, it will be the bigger coaster that launches in many people's eyes. It will be interesting to see what it turns out being.

I was checking the Mack catalogue to see if they do golf attractions, they don't. It might be something like this: https://rcdb.com/6764.htm