downunder

I probably should have reworded my statement on Tatsu, it has a level of intensity but relative to other coasters I have ridden I didn't think it was as intense. The coasters I've been on that I think are really intense - Balder, Phoenix, Boulder Dash, El Toro, Piraten, Bizarro (SFNE), X2, Raptor, Maverick, Top Thrill Dragster, Millennium Force to name a few. I've clocked up over 400 coasters now (pretty sad) so I'm a bit harder to please, actually I'm very jaded at the moment, I'm in coaster de-tox. I rode Tatsu 7 times on a visit the year it opened and I was bored with it after that. Like I said before it all comes down to personal preference, I'd rather ride X2, Batman, Deja Vu, & Goliath over Tatsu (and probably Terminator Salvation, which I've not ridden, if it's as good as people were telling me it is) at SFMM but that's just doing what I like. I think a B & M invert would be realistic for an Australian park from an affordability perspective. Perhaps a second hand Batman or Orichi from Japan would have been a nice purchase when they were available. I wish Dreamworld would get an Intamin Megalite and a Balder clone - I'd never leave the country to ride coasters again.

I wonder if the guy has actually ridden a flyer, not a coaster type that impresses me that much other than pretzel loop which is the only place that a flyer gets forceful. What people like in a coaster is subjective for sure but the prone position you are in on a flyer really limits the force that can be exerted and the overall intensity of the ride. I've ridden Tatsu, all 3 Superman flyers, all 3 Vekoma flyers, & unfortunately 3 Zamperla Volares and I'm still not that impressed with flyers. I think an Intamin megalite ould be a great addition for any Australian park and something that would be realistic to acquire, based on my rides on Piraten megalites seriously kick butt. If they were to add a B & M I would prefer a forceful invert over a dive machine, stand up, flyer or looper models. I excluded the B & M hyper from consideration because they are probably way too pricey for an Australian park.

This is the project I'm most interested in for next year, I'm just dying to know what the layout is going to be like - I guess we're all hoping it will have more airtime than Millennium Force. It's about time we had another Intamin hyper/giga, the B & M's are fun (I went on Goliath at Six Flags Over Georgia last week which was nice) but I much prefer the more aggressive Intamins. I went to KD last year and I think this will be a great addition because the park really needs a centrepiece. Dominator is one of the better floorless coasters, I really like Flight Of Fear, and Volcano was good until comes out of the Volcano and then it becomes very tame. The 3 woodies are absolutely abominable, Italian Job is fun without being spectacular and the rest of the coasters are mediocre. I would have never considered going back to this park but the Intamin changes all that.

Robb Alvey is looking for a POV Video of Bush Beast, I presume to include on one of his future DVD's, has anyone got one? Here is the TPR link: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=50434 I found one here which was good but I believe Robb would be after the source video as it has to be good enough quality to be on a DVD: http://www.----URL removed for non-compliance with Community Guidelines----/video/bushbeast1.html

I'm going to Hansa in June and definitely Fluch Von Nogood (I know I misspelled it, more like Fluch Von Bloodybrilliant) is definitely one of the 3 most anticipated coasters of the trip along with Balder and Piraten. I think Wicked at Lagoon has a launch and a Eurofighter style drop but I haven't heard much about what it's like. Hitting a greater than 90 degrees drop at a good speed was sensational on Maverick especially at the back.

There's so much they could do with Luna Park without giving the residents legal recourse to shut new rides down. Dark rides, indoor coasters, outdoor sub 100 foot coasters (GCI woodie, Eurofighter and so on - these can be made with a narrow footprint to fit the site). I honestly don't think there is there is any corporate will to invest in the site. Sure they won that court case but I think they had to win that to keep the existing operation going and there are no serious plans for significant expansion. Indiana Beach is a good example of the possibilities for a site like Luna Park - that was a fantastic place.

The problem would be that a lot of that $100 million would be eaten up just acquiring the land unless they leased from the government some of that land that was allegedly earmarked for some kind of amusement complex, was it at Prospect? I don't think there is any possibility of a new amusement park in Sydney of any significant size, does Sydney even have any waterparks? I wish they would add something of substance to Luna Park but I don't think that will happen.

Ed, I just realised that there is a type of B & M I haven't been on and that's the sit down looper, I have to admit Wildfire looks very good. Ditto on Knoebels, I went there last year, it was excellent. One big thing Cedar Point does have over SFMM is that it can offer a complete resort experience, staying onsite is brilliant.

If those 100,000 people all put $100,0 there's your $100 million to build a theme park. Didn't the fans of one soccer club in England pool together and buy the club.

^Hey Jacob - I'm insane that is two coasters with inversions, I've fixed that. Now I'm off to give myself a triple uppercut. BTW which one do you prefer, you've been to both?

I didn't mind Scream, it was fun, though I do note that floorless coasters are ten times better in the front row. I've become a bit blase about B & M looping coasters because they are so ubiquitous, and they often have very similiar layouts - first drop, vertical loop, and so on. Also I prefer airtime coasters over loopers, my top ten really shows my hand: 1. Phoenix 2. Boulder Dash 3. El Toro 4. Superman Ride OF Steel (SFNE) 5. Maverick 6. Top Thrill Dragster 7. X 8. Millennium Force 9. Behemoth 10. Ravine Flyer II Wow, that's only two coasters with inversions.

^I used to think SFMM was the ants pants until I went to Cedar Point, then I thought CP was the ants pants for coasters until I rode Superman Ride of Steel at SF New England and El Toro, and last year I added Phoenix and Boulder Dash to that pantheon.

For me Cedar Point - I love the location and Maverick, Millennium Force, and Top Thrill Dragster are all in my top ten. I also really like Raptor, Magnum, Gemini, and Wicked Twister. I think SFMM has the best Flyer and Stand Up in the world but they are coaster types I'm not personally a big fan of, only X (haven't done X2) is in my top 10 from SFMM. I really like hypers, Goliath is very good but I have it way behind most hypers I have been on - 4 Intamins, 4 B & M's & 3 Arrows, but still the preference thing comes in, Goliath is more about helixes than airtime. I think if you were grading all the coasters and came up with an average SFMM would be slighly ahead, but they are two parks where coaster preferences and how much you value park atmosphere come into it and that's what puts CP firmly ahead for me. I agree with Nev CP is much more of a pain in the butt to get to.

Indiana Jones for me, with California Screaming, Space Mountain, and Matterhorn bring up the rear. A little fave of mine is Mr Toad's Wild Ride, also I haven't been on Tower of Terror so I can't consider that one.

I that park (Everland?) that has T-Express and Eagle's Fortress easy to get to while in Seoul?

Good point, but I'm in 2 minds, they had to win this court case top keep a goos part of the park operating at all but here's hoping they do something with the park now. I'd love them to build the park into an Indianan Beach style park.

Knoebels Phoenix would be sensational from an enthusiast point of view but I'm not sure how the general public would feel about a ride that threatens to throw you out of the train that many times. I'd buy a season pass to Dreamworld if they had something like that because I'd be there frequently. I did a POV of Flying Turns, I ran down with my camera going. Robb seems to think Flying Turns will be a glorified kiddie bobsled rather than the near death experience I would be hoping for. Damn I want to go back to Knoebels. Doing trip reports on TPR makes me go all maudlin. Zamperla Volare's belong in the iron semlters of Port Kembla, they are like Jigsaw from Saw designed a coaster.

I think their grounds for complaint, or at least part of it, was that when the park closed for a long time in 1979 it was neighboured by office buildings rather than residential towers like now but it's good that the counter argument that the site was always designated for an amusement park even if one wasn't operating at times prevailed. Always good to see a bunch of whiny upper class bitches not get their way once in a while. But will Luna Park invest in more rides? I doubt it.

The other think I liked about Maverick was that the coaster was like a best of compilation where they have taken the best bits from many coasters and put them into one coaster, I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. And a great coaster doesn't have to be huge, I've ridden most of the biggest but 3 of my top 5 are around the 100 foot mark. I'm all for a full on indoor coaster, although some didn't, I really liked the Flight Of Fear coasters (similiar to Rock n Roller Coaster), and I think a Eurofighter loans itself well to an indoor concept.

^Yeah I meant a Maverick style coaster, which is very low to the ground and would interact nicely with the wooded area but also like I said, way too many $USD. I'd be happy to see at Maverick style coaster at any park, I loved it.

I'm all for a Megalite, they are reasonably affordable, would appeal to broad ridership and are supposed un-bloody-believable - all the fun of a hyper without having to build a 200 foot plus lift hill. I'm looking forward to riding one in June. Stuff all that, I'm just trying to justify what I want there. I think a Maverick style coaster would be a good fit for Dreamworld (imagine one winding through the forest) but unfortunately that would be way too pricey for an Australian park (I think Cedar Point paid at least $21 million USD).

Glad you had a good second day at Cedar Point, I've been there when there was no wait for anything and that's just gold. I went to Great America last year, luckily we had gold q-bots because it would have been awful otherwise for lines. You really dodged a bullet on Iron Wolf, that coaster is terrible and rough. I had another awesome coaster tour in August, so it's really cool to read your reports, it really brings back memories.

^Oops, I meant Tom the guy who started the thread, sorry Cadboy. Looking like the Dull Knight, hopefully I'll get the credit during ERT and then forget about it. I think Six Flags has copped the tip and won't be buiding any more - you could have built a much better coaster for the dosh they splashed out on that.

^I think you are incapable of telling a tongue in cheek remark from a serious one. Do you think I'd seriously risk potentially copping an assault charge and a criminal record because of some overzealous ride op, I don't think so - I'd just complain if I felt strongly enough. Back on topic, I'll be back at Great Adventure in August - we have been advised this week that we have ERT on El Toro (and possibly Kingda Ka and Dark Knight) as well as having Gold Flash Passes for the day, so it should be a great day as long as the weather holds out. Cadboy, on top of your review of Dark Knight, it seems quite unaminous that it is a bit average to put it mildly. The bigger shame is that Dark Kight replaced Chiller, which was a really good coaster (based on my rides on the Robin side), fair enough it was very problematic for the park, but still a real shame.

I went on a vertical speed slide at Wet and Wild Orlando with a trap door and that was nerve racking enough let alone having a loop as well, I'd definitely go for it.