downunder

Sunday 18th October - Busch Gardens and Howl O Scream Headed off early morning to drive to Tampa. Got there before the rope drop and once the rope went down we made a bee line for Cheetah Hunt. I've got to say Cheetah Hunt is not super intense, but a lot of fun - it's a real adventure of a ride as it covers a good part of the park and varying terrain. It was a shame the line was too long at night during the haunt to ride it again. Rode Cheetah Hunt another couple of times, and then started a circuit around the park. We hit Falcon's Fury first up, the new drop tower. The drop isn't as intense due to your prone body position going down, but it's a fun ride, we did it about five times during the day. The crowds were fairly light until the Halloween event. Rode the adjacent Wild Mouse and then headed for Kumba. Now Kumba, a sit down looper, is what people call old-school B & M, it has some serious g-forces and a great layout. No line to speak so we did a few laps in various rows, back was best if I recall correctly. Then we wrapped around and hit Sheikra, a serious people eater in terms of capacity. As far a dive machines go, the two 90 degrees drops are fun, but they aren't really exciting outside of that. We did multiple laps in various rows and positions. Next stop, more old school B & M - Montu. This is one hell of an intense invert, I've only got this behind Nemesis at Alton. Never lets up the entire ride and the blood really goes to your feet in a big way. After a few laps we did the train around the park and checked the wild life like the rhinos, and throughout the day we went to various animal exhibits in between coasters. They even have an Aussie enclosure with everything from Kookas to Kangas. Did the early buffet for Howl O Scream, which included ERT on the mazes and 1 hour of fast pass on top of that - good value. You also get an early session of their show Fiends, which is a good show, but they had me at the sexy nurse assistants. Got through the mazes fairly quickly except Zombie Containment Unit. Honestly, none of the mazes stood out, a lot of sameness about the sets and lighting - except for Zombie Containment and the 3D Clown Maze. Zombie Containment Unit was a zombie shooter, we had to wait about 50 minutes for it. At least they had an onsite DJ to keep things pumping. The line just went on and on, outside the building and then inside the building. The maze itself was very average, just shooting at random zombies jumping out, mostly they were behind cyclone fence props - fun, but very short. The scare zones were a bit sparse, Busch is a huge park so it's hard to get really immersive coverage. This was the first of our marathon days, we clocked up 12 miles walking for the day. Next, 4 Disneys in One day...

Saturday 17th October 2015 - Pre-game and Fun Spot Orlando Out til 3am on Friday night / Saturday, so it was time to pack. In such a hurry for the train to the airport in the morning managed to drop my Opal card in between tapping in and jumping on the train. Had to tailgate at International station (though I had hit the station access fee cap that week as well as 8 regular trips, so the journey was actually free). Blocked my Opal card online to save my balance, so sucked in bogan at Glenfield who tried using my card the next morning. Didn't score an upgrade from Premium Economy, but Virgin Gold status gets me a gig at the lounge, had a shower, and scored some food. Pretty tired by the time I got to the plane, one movie and then it was sleepy time. Repeat at LAX at the Delta lounge (they recognise your status benefits on Virgin) and then onto Orlando. Got picked up at the airport by my mate who'd recently moved to Florida, and it was straight to Fun Spot Orlando for some coasters. Fun Spot is not far from Universal Orlando and is a very small park, but plenty fun - including an alligators pit. But we were there for credits, not to go all gator boys on the reptiles. Rode the junior GCI woodie first. It was a bit of a departure from a typical GCI, just a straight out and back with airtime hills and short trains. Delivered some good airtime and was a pleasant surprise. Next to the Vekoma Junior invert, which was good for what it was and then we rode the kiddie coaster. Then we were out of there, and hit a Texas steakhouse bar near our accommodation in Kissimmee. Overall, not a bad little park with a good selection of rides and attractions. Next stop, Busch Gardens Tampa and Howl O Scream....

After a great time at Movie World's Halloween the weekend before. It was time to cross the Pacific to theme park Nirvana, and get my haunt on. In summary, what did I do? Sat October 17 : Travel Sydney to Los Angeles then onto Orlando / Fun Spot Orlando Sun Oct 18 : Busch Gardens Tampa and Howl O Scream Mon Oct 19 : Animal Kingdom / Disney Studios / Epcot / Magic Kingdom Tue Oct 20 : Sea World / Fun Spot Kissimmee / sleep Wed Oct 21 : Universal Orlando / Lights-on Maze Tours / Halloween Horror Nights Thu Oct 22 : Knott's Scary Farm Fri Oct 23 : Magic Mountain / Zombie Joe's Urban Death Tour (North Hollywood) Sat Oct 24 : Queen Mary Dark Harbor Sun Oct 25 : Knott's Scary Farm Mon Oct 26 : no parks / Australian Consulate Tue Oct 27 : Knott's Berry Farm Wed Oct 28 : Knott's Scary Farm Thu Oct 29 : Knott's Scary Farm Fri Oct 30 : Halloween Horror Nights - Hollywood Fri Oct 31 : watch rugby world cup final / Universal Citywalk / go home I was also going to Las Vegas and Frightdome and other haunts, but had to cancel and stay in LA because my Passport got severely damaged in Florida and I had to go to the Australian consulate in LA to get an emergency passport. Trust me folks, trying to get through the TSA at screening with just an Aussie issued driver's licence is not fun. To be continued...

^Virgin is under a $1k Sydney - LA return at the moment, it's only a matter of whether I could get time off work.

I wonder what the crowds were like in Year 2, given the large amount of customer antipathy generated in Year 1 (and ongoing it seems)? I'd never go back there (even the offer of free tickets wouldn't do it), and everyone I know who's been feels the same, and they're warning off their friends not to go as well who haven't been.

^^I'm the same, I'm not going to take a day off work to go on a quiet day during the week (I'm always saving my leave for overseas trips or playing sport). The main reason I went was because my mate had a car provided by his company while he was over and was based at Parramatta, so he could pick me up from Blacktown Station (it took us at least a half an hour to go the 6kms from the Station to Wet and Wild). That was the only practical way to do it, because if I went home and drove there myself, it would take a significant amount of time in peak hour.

^Yes, it's being re-tracked by GCI and getting new trains and some re-profiling (and they're taking out the mid-course brake). I got some good photos of the work when I was over there in October. Glad you had a great time. I feel fortunate I only had to wait 15 mins for front row on X2, I still really like it - I wish I could have taken a POV including the audio of my mate on the ride, it was hilarious. I've got a Six Flags season pass now, and I intend to get my maximum value out of it next year.

^I thought the hours were logically aligned to the twilight discount on the day I went. There wasn't a lot of people there when I went and I doubt there would have been numbers to justify opening all day. What puzzles me is surely head office at VRTP would be giving this place some scrutiny and accountability. They seem separated from the rest of the group, like they are not really integrated into the themeparks.com.au website. Is the underlying corporate structure for W n W Sydney different to the other parks (like a joint venture)?

^^On a positive note, we drove out of there without paying for parking. A bit like Six Flags at their worst the employees, for the most part, seemed smug and uninterested. The girl in guest services was genuine though. Scanners at the front broken, slides breaking down, slow loading times, lack of shade. The three slide complexes being so far apart means a barefoot concrete marathon, which would be murder when it's really hot - I was unclear about whether you could hold onto thongs when you go on a slide (i.e. wear thongs when walking between the slide complexes). The general vibe of the place is dull. The slides were fun, though I don't have much of a comparison point. Probably the best ones I've been on are the water coaster at Kentucky Kingdom, the Proslide Tornadoes are great (love the drop), Six Flags Great America had some great slides. ^I'm probably not a good reference point for an average park goer, I'm quite jaded now - I've been to at least 140 parks around the world (134 with coasters). So it takes a lot more to convince me to go to a park (in W n W's case it was just because a friend wanted to go) - I mean I've been to Dreamworld once in the last 12 years. I think I should do a report about October 2015, I went to many good parks that month. I even had a good day at Magic Mountain.

I wouldn't say it's too far, though it's not a fun drive, it depends on why you have to drive. Driving that far for W n W is generally not worth it, but if they had something like Movie World out there, different story. I mean I had to drive further for training every Sunday morning last summer.

Dude, I didn't say the car park was intentionally hot, that actually would be mental. My negative impression was based on far more than the front gate experience. Like I said before the lightning stoppages were understood, and I wouldn't consider any grounds for complaint, but after all the stuff I could complain about or dislike, mother nature had an extra kick in the nuts lined up. As evidenced by the chorus of complaints from other customers, there's a lot wrong with this place.

^I imagine it's to align to the evening discount period, which kicks in at 3.30pm. Possibly they didn't think there'd be sufficient crowds during the day to justify opening for the full day.

They seem to building up a lot of antipathy on a number of fronts. I'd like them to succeed, if purely from my point of view to build a case for a full scale amusement park. Something is going to give if they keep pissing people off on the scale that they are.

I left them in the car, in hindsight, I should have bought thongs (I didn't bring them at all) and left them at the beach - rookie error. My mate left stuff at the beach.

I'm coming over to Perth and doing Adventureworld for the first time in January, looking forward to it. Kraken sounds great and I'm keen to check out Abyss.

I had a mate over from Perth who was keen to go after work, so it was the perfect opportunity to go as his company had provided him with a car and I could get a ride from Blacktown station. It definitely would be challenging on your own. Generally it wouldn't be practical for me to go, because I'd have to take a day off work to go there when the crowds are light, and after work isn't practical normally as it's impossible to get there from Blacktown station without a car, and driving there from home would take too long. I don't go to a lot of water parks so I don't really have a benchmark (I'm usually pressed for time and amusement parks take priority), I've been to Gold Coast and a few American ones. Having the three towers spread out made it seem sparse, I hope they add a lot more stuff.

^The lightning part I was cool with, it was understandable, though the application of the closures was a tad inconsistent - and the timing was positively comical for us, just when e get to the top of the tower LOL. I came with an open mind about the park, hoping for a good time, but I was unimpressed. Maybe it was just a bad day where a lot of things went wrong. I'm hoping VRTP will build a companion amusement park, no idea f that would ever happen.

Even though I'm a Sydney resident I went to Wet and Wild Sydney for the first time yesterday, went after work mainly because an out-of-town friend wanted to go. I rarely make incursions into western Sydney, except to play sport - I just don't live anywhere near there. Didn't want to pay for a locker, so I went barefoot across the parking lot - which was torture, and obviously designed that way to force you to wear shoes, or thongs, and hence need a locker, at least decades of martial arts has made my feet tough. They could have had bitumen like a road, but they made it gravelly to maximise pain on bare feet. Got to the gate with my twilight ticket, which they couldn't scan because the scanner wasn't working. So I had to wait 30 minutes in a queue, while some idiots changed their minds 50 times while getting their season pass processed - it took them that long to process 4 people. Finally in the park, go up to the first slide as soon as we get to loading. Even though it's a perfectly sunny day, there must be lightning somewhere on the continent (it did come much later) so they closed everything. Wet and wild was leaving me dry and disheartened. After waiting a while in the bright sun, I went to guest services to complain about the debacle at the gate, they offered return tickets - I declined because I never want to go back to this little hellhole. We waited and waited, and unexpectedly they opened the slides. We did all the slides in the tower closest to the highway, but when we got to 360 it broke down, so we tossed the back strap mats and grabbed some mats for the other slide down there. We did one slide in the southern corner past the food outlets, then went over to the other tower. Did the slide that gives you are butt raping with a cheese grater like surface, then went for another slide and just as we got to the top, closed due to lightning. We decided to leave - the best part of the day, driving out of there. The slides weren't bad, but the place is a shambles still, even into it's third season. For starters, it's a sparse place, visually discouraging - virtually no shade. So much stuff was broken, poorly run - I'm glad I can say I've been there to say I've tried it, but I never want to go back again. I can only imagine how hellish this place is on a crowded day. All I can say is f*** you very much Dry and Distressful, you've created another voice to warn people away from this hellhole. End rant.

^Yes, I saw the pig's head, so many good sets. We had school kids ahead of us and some were coming back out of the entrance crying LOL. I hope they keep it there long term. I bought a season pass, so I'll be back to the Manor.

I went for a quick visit at lunchtime today. Mystery Manor was very well done and a lot of fun - the scare actors and sets were seriously cool. Hair Raiser kicked a$$ as usual. Nothing in the flying saucer areas, and there "mind our mess" fences just past Tumble Bug and the Bumper Cars.

I've been to Movieland Studios, it's quite quirky. Unfortunately I didn't go to the water park as well.

I'm not a fan of the Intamin ball coasters like Green Lantern at Magic Mountain, though some people love them. I really liked El Loco at Adventuredome, personally I found it preferable to the MW El Loco. They're the only 2 I've been on. I just checked RCDB, GL seems to be the only 4 across El Loco.

^A taller version of Intimidator 305 would be 50,000 shades of win as far as I'm concerned, or a blend of the best bits of Intamin's better hypers. The big rockets like Dragster and Ka are an amazing experience, but lack elements and can be problematic to keep running. I'm definitely not in the know as to what has been considered this time, but I'm looking forward to finding out. Another upside is this might up the ante competitively with DW and they actually add something amazing too, I can hope.

I'd be happy with a serious ejector time hyper coaster - one thing about them is they seem to be a ride people don't get sick of (the same with airtime woodies), which would be good for repeat business. I base that on anecdotal observations from going to many parks with A-list air time machines and being able to talk to park management on organised tours as well. And I know I never get sick of most Intamin hypers and woodies (like El Toro) and RMCs. I was led to believe at one stage many years ago there was desire for something higher than the tallest ride at Dreamland, now wouldn't that be nice? I can dream on, but I guess we'll know in a month or two.

A narrow footprint hyper might work out the front, maybe do an L-shape around the edge of the carpark. Biggest isn't always best, I mean I love Maverick most at Cedar Point and it's a quarter of the height of Top Thrill Dragster. We'll have to wait and see I guess. If it's amazing, I'll be up there a bit more at Movie World.