downunder

I love how they keep taking it up a notch every year, if I ever have a year where I don't head to the US for Halloween - I'm there. Only 6 nights seems a bit of a waste considering how much work goes into the event.

This looks amazing, I've already been checking out where Branson is. To top it off they've got Powderkeg, and an old school. B & M sit down. Branson is supposed to be like Pigeon Forge, so I'm sold.

Grizzly looks great, I was just in Hong Kong less than half a day ago, but I didn't have time to check out Disneyland while on layover to at least have a look. Rode OzIris last week, a fairly solid B & M with a unique layout, though it's nowhere near Montu or Nemesis, and I'd have it behind the one Flight Deck I've been on. The theming was excellent, especially the queue. The hilarious thing about Parc Asterix is that Goudrix had a 2-3 hour line, almost everything had monster lines. Also rode Wodan, which is a pretty solid GCI, though nothing surprising.

^Thirteen was very ordinary, I rode it once and that was enough, Nemesis on the other hand... I'm really impressed with Verbolten, there's already a few POV floating around, looks like fun. With all these new B & M hypers which are at least are bigger than what they usually do, I wonder if the ride experience will be all that different from their other hypers which are smooth with floaty airtime. Skyrush really intersts me, I'm looking forward to seeing if it has the classical Intamin ejector airtime. Next month I'll get to check out Oz'Iris which looks like a good variation on the standard B & M Invert layout & Wodan, which I expect will be like most other GCI's - not that there's anything wrong with that. I've haven't been to Dreamworld since 2003, that's how much I think of their new additions. I almost went just before Christmas, but I got a freebie for MW & went there instead.

I was joking around, I think a launch would make the Weapon truly Lethal.

I don't get it, does Martin Riggs escape from Arkham Asylum? Does Murtaugh help him get out? Gosh, darn, I was hoping for enhancements to the Lethal Weapon theme, like just before the new LIM launch up the lift hill, Danny Glover goes "I'm getting too old for this sh**" on the audio. In all seriousness, they can theme it to Howard the Duck for all I care, the over the shoulder straps will eliminate all headbanging - that's good enough for me.

The more I see of Skyrush at Hershey the more impressed I am, this could be the surpise biggest hit of the new additions.

A major airtime coaster, steel or wood, something like Balder or Expedition GeForce. Probably not likely, but I'd love to see it - they're also a bit smaller than other coasters in their class (B: 118' & EGF: 173') so they might be tad more realistic.

Superman Escape for me. I have to say Jet Rescue was fantastic, finally rode it just before Christmas.

I remember that place as a little kid, the Ghost train was cool, and there was the madhouse. Those were the days. sydney used to have some dinky little amusement parks around the place. I recall this other one that was out west somewhere that had slides and a field with little houses and stuff, no idea what it was called. I also recall being just tall enough (with a lot of cheating) to ride the original big dipper, unfortunately the fire put paid clocking some serious laps.

I've never paid much attention to BB, except some of the hotter females on the show. Speaking of not so hot, the last time I saw Sarah Marie she was the face of National Herpes Week, and we're not talking the cold sore on face variety. It doesn't really matter much to me.

Around 2 hours for Dragster in it's opening year though it was punctuated by multiple breakdowns. Another similarly long wait was Deja Vu at SFMM in 2001 (before the single rider line). Generally I've never had too many long waits because I pick my visit times very carefully or get any kind of fast pass where they are available. Shortest, Xcelerator on a quiet day. You didn't even have to get off, just stay in your seat as long as no one was waiting for the row.

Best: 1. El Toro 2. Balder 3. Hotel Gasten (Ghost Hotel, Liseberg) 4. Phoenix - Knoebels 5. Indiana Jones - DL Worst: 1. It's A Small World (hell is a never ending ride on this) 2. Everything at Epcot circa 1992 (to quote PJ O'Rourke: Disney has come up with a land of make believe that's worse than real life). 3. Gadget's Go Coaster - DL 4. Everything at Little Amerricka except the 2007 wood coaster. 5. Hurler at King's Dominion.

^Totally agree, a good ride is a good ride, I couldn't care less what they call it. I mean I'll still think Bizarro at SF New England is great even if they called it "Nickelback's Ride of Steel" or "Fairly Boring Coaster". There are some fairly mystifying names and concepts out there, Rita: Queen of Speed at Alton is one of the first that comes to mind.

^I'd most definitely want to ride Wonder Woman.

I rode Top Thrill Dragster with this girl in a string bikini, at the brake run she was in shock from the intensity of the ride and first thing she did was look down because she thought she lost her top. Now I would have definitely gotten that on-ride photo. Two girls with big boobies flashed for the camera on Son of Beast when I was there in 2007. I jumped on front row on Raptor once, and this girl came and sat next to me. The first thing she said to me was "are you one of those coaster freaks". I said no, and it turned out we were both staying at Hotel Breakers, and she was from Germany and had been interning for Hillary Clinton. I told some friends who were Cedar Point first timers they should ride row 3 ("the ejector seat") on Magnum, one of them got totally neutered on the bunny hill run, the on-ride photo was a portrait of pure agony. Seeing the actor who played Webster at a skanky little park in Atlanta - Dixieland.

I was in a similar situation, I went just before Christmas, and hadn't been to MW since 2007. I didn't notice the changes, so I mustn't have been paying attention in 2007. Though WWF always impresses me, it's one of the attractions at MW that really is up there with anything of it's type in the world, along with Scooby and Superman.

If Lethal Weapon was in the US or Europe, I'd say give us all blow torches and we'll melt it into a big lump of metal, but like what people have observed it's one of the better coasters in Australia and we need any coaster we can get. If it was existing at the expense of getting a better coaster in it's place then I'd have a different opinion. Hopefully the new trains will solve the head banging problem. The new trains on the Morey Piers SLC completely took head banging out of the equation (not KumbaK's though), then you're just left with the jerky transitions and a feeling you've done this in a thousand other places. At least LW has the bonus helix.

My objection to Mulholland Madness is that it is such a cookie cutter coaster, among so many amazing attractions - I don't hate it so much as it is so mediocre. On reflection though, Gadget's Go Coaster is extremely lame, even though it's a kids ride they still could have done much better.

My fave: Indiana Jones Worst: Mulholland Madness

I thought that seat smelt funny. I guess it's all relative, I just about shat myself on the Star Flyer at Tivoli in Copenhagen, I couldn't wait for it to end. They were pretty much a double seat version of a wave swinger seat suspended by chains. It did not inspire the slightest feeling of security. I shudder to think what the lines will be like now for Green Lantern, and everything else for that matter. Would positioning rides at the front of the park like the have with GL give MW less noise hassles with their neighbours, do noise issues with neighbours limit development options?

I rode the Windseeker at Knott's at night, and it wasn't that exciting, you just feel too safe on those for them to be thrilling. I think Movieworld can do better than that. On the flip side, the star flyers (where you just have chains supporting you and you swing freely) are terrifying. I went on the 23rd having no idea whether GL would be open or not. I watched a fair bit of the media thing before the park opened. They had problems with the restraints on the train we were supposed to get on. Luckily after some twiddling and a few test runs we got our first ride. It will be interesting to see what the next few additions will be at MW. The cynic in me says they'll just to do a new mission for Batman, and re-jig Looney Tunes, but I guess We'll have to wait and see.

I was fortunate enough to ride GL on Friday, it's a solid addition. We definitely got sucker punched by the sudden brake stop, I'm sure they'll iron out that bump. The upside down hang time should thrill the masses. Also, I was surprised to ride Superman in the rain, haven't been to MW in 5 years or so, possibly they are less anal with their wet weather policy. On a side note, went to Sea World today - Jet Rescue and snorkelling in Shark Bay both rocked.

SFMM is a must do as people have said, a large number of coasters, some of them quite impressive. Keep in mind it will only be open on weekends until the last week of March, if that's the case go on a Sunday. Knott's should be absolutely dead on a week day in March (it's open everyday) so it's worth doing because you can get it done very quickly. Disney is a must-do, especially if you've never been before. California Adventure is okay, if you've got to choose maybe not. Universal should be pretty dead too. The bottom line is have a look at the park websites and work out which parks have the most stuff you want to do and prioritse accordingly based on what you like.

This was such a fun, cheesy ride, but I can understand why it has to move on to the big theme park in the sky.