downunder

Yes, Mad Max would be a great theme for the stunt show, or as a ride with that interacts with the theme (as opposed to just slapping the name on a coaster and throwing in a few props). I think they're due for a decent thrill ride, if they're going to do something indoors, perhaps a Flight of Fear style coaster. Or outdoors, a mini hyper with a narrow footprint going along the front.

I just renewed with the $75 option, it made the most sense for me personally as I will make a minimum of two park visits, and I'm only likely to do the Halloween event, which I pay for anyway because I'd only do the Ultimate Tour option. The as-yet-unknown upgrade option I'll consider on it's merits and whether I can benefit from it when they actually disclose it. IMO the way have done this whole thing is ordinary and a highly unsatisfactory customer experience. VRTP have really gone from the Disney of Australian Theme Parks to sub Six Flags in the last few years.

I'll believe it when I see it, would be cool if they did something though. They might have been talking to Premier about something other than coasters, they do build observation towers for instance. But who knows, my bet is not much is happening, but feel free to surprise me. ^Ha, they should build a decent amusement park out in the Docklands area where Wonderland is.

I saw the two concrete rails are still there last week, like a lot of things no longer in use.

^^Dude, I am joking, apologies if I wasn't clear about that. ^I just drove straight to the Laser Tag, so I assumed the ice skating was in the flat part at the bottom of the ski slope, but that is more interesting - does that ski slope building get utilised for anything at all now? I wish I'd had time to explore, but I was with my team. "Team Bondage" was a deliberate misspell as a joke - I can assure you no floggings occurred. I think I'll stay away from comedy, I'll happily concede - Monday morning (now PM) ughhh.

I went to the Big Banana unexpectedly last week, we had a day's play completely cancelled at the Touch Footy World Cup due to the apocalyptic weather, so a bit of team bondage was in order. I would have loved to have done the Toboggans, but they were closed for the day. The indoor ski slope is still there, though it only operates as an ice rink, I think the slope was closed the last time I was there in 2002. What we actually did was the Laser Tag, which was pretty good fun. I'm not a Laser Tag aficionado, but I thought it was solid. It would be cool if they put more stuff there, a waterpark would be nice, and while they're at it throw in an Intamin hyper - only because I think everywhere should throw in an Intamin Hyper, or relocate the Orphan Rocker lol.

Ah, the good old Intamin first gen free falls. I've been on a few, Magic Mountain, Cedar Point, Movieland Studios, and I can't remember if I did the one at Great Adventure. They were so clunky. Scariest free fall, the SCAD tower, not a ride, more a near death experience. Has anyone been on Zumanjaro at Great Adventure?

One of friends rode Fujiyama, the Togo hyper at Fuji-Queue, and said they like that.

^I have no recollection, I was riding Colossos most of the time, and Krake, and I remember that crazy walk through under Krake. It was a really wet day when we were there so that limited things a bit. Credit run, then re-ride the good stuff and stay out of the wet.

Giant Drop for me, though I haven't been on Lex Luthor or the one at Great Adventure; or even though I've lived in Sydney all my life I never bothered going to Wonderland to ride Space Probe 7. Others of note that I've ridden: Grona Lund's ballbreaker, the indoor one at Phantasialand, I can't remember the Heide Park, so it must have been good. Some of the smaller drop towers have a bit of a kick to them like the one at Luna Park Sydney.

I've only been on two, the Vegas one, which I notice has changed it's name again - lol, maybe they change the name occasionally so that lawsuits record against a previous name of the coaster. Boring and painful. The stand up at Canada's Wonderland was pain free, but boring. I did ride it defensively though. I'm glad not too many Togos escaped Japan. I absolutely marvel at the ineptness of design of Winjammers at Knott's - though the park did sign off on it.

My first Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Hollywood in 2009, that blew my mind. Other notables: my first trip to Cedar Point, and first ride on Top Thrill Dragster in it's debut year; and getting called up on stage by Elvira at Knott's Scary Farm.

^My tongue is firmly in cheek there. I've been on a few Scenic Railway type coasters, you can definitely get some good airtime on some of them like the one at Tivoli when the brakeman is doing you a favour (they have a hall of shame (aka wall of horror) in the maintenance area at Tivoli for brakeman who've de-railed a train).

^^I wonder if being jolted out of your seat could be counted as airtime. ^The Ghost Train was just OK, not a whole lot going on in there, definitely been on better.

^I agree, great queue theming, and I really thought Osiris might be a throwback to the old school B & M inverts that had a lot of force, also the unique layout looked cool - sadly it was forceless. The most horrific thing at Parc Asterix was the three hour line in sweltering heat for Goudurix, I thought poor people, and then I realised they are the French LOL. Luckily I had a VIP thing that bypassed the line for my first and only ride on the notorious Goudurix torture machine.

^Black Mamba is pretty good, the interaction with the theming is extremely impressive, but purely as a coaster I wouldn't put it in the class of Nemesis, Montu or Katun.

When I was there, after about an hour the line was huge for tickets, like back out of the mouth entry. Though it looked like a large muslim group were a lot of the line. It must be the lack of similar attractions, as has been observed in the thread, that gets such a high level of attendance for a small park. Oh well, it does make Luna Park Sydney look like Cedar Point by comparison. I wouldn't go back there unless they added a major new attraction, in other words, never. I must say the "Line jumpers will be torn in half and eaten by demons" signs at the scenic railway were an amusing touch.

^I rode Phoenix pretty much all over - front, back, everywhere. Like we've both observed, the ride experience can vary greatly over a period of time (generally worse, sometime better). I can only base my thoughts on my own experience. It's also worth considering that I was in a large enthusiast group, so they might have made sure it was cranking the day we were there. Impulse looks cool, it will be fun at the very least, hopefully I'll get to ride it someday and make a judgement about it. I've been to Europa Park a couple of times, lots of fun, lots to explore, and they also have tons of shows, though I didn't go to any. None of the coasters are top ten for me, but a few are very good like Blue Fire, Wodan, one of the Euro ones. Definitely a park with a lot of depth theming wise. Phantasialand has amazing theming, I've stayed at a couple of their hotels and they are amazing too. It had no rides which blew my mind, but the place was pretty.

^I really like IOA, it is so immersive, especially if you ride Bluto's Bilge Rat Barges, that is like taking a shower with your clothes on. IOA has good balance of thrills and theming IMO. I find sometimes simple theming works really well, and creates a great experience. I've always admired how with just a few simple effects, Cedar Point manages to make every launch of Top Thrill Dragster seem like an event.

^Actually their new one looks pretty good too, so it might be two killer coasters. I was sceptical about Phoenix, but then I rode it, and it was ridiculous - like the last drop on Cyclops at Mt Olympus the whole ride. My experience of Phoenix (which was in 2008) was amazing and I rode it something like 30-40 times (there was night ERT). Sorry, you didn't have a great time on it, maybe it has off days, or maybe they fixed it between 2001 and 2008. It's a shame Knoebels is so out of the way, I'd love to go back there again. I've had similar experiences with coasters like Ghostrider, and Hades was amazing in 2007 and then when I rode it in 2012, it was the most heinous coaster I had ever experienced.

I enjoy all kinds of parks for different reasons, but I'd keep going back to a parking lot if it had tons of killer coasters. As a park experience (& one super killer coaster), Knoebels for me. I also love Cedar Point for it's wonderful location surrounded by water.

I hear publicly disclosing you're a coaster enthusiast can ruin your sex life (if you have one) lol. Poor girl, that's an awful injury.

^I agree, it has got a great layout, it's a classic. I only rode it once or twice in 2008, and it was like it was bouncing on the track at the bottom of the drops - the big saving grace was the heavy padding on the seats. I've been stuck on the lift hill and evac'd, no big deal - unless you're going to be late for the TPR tour bus LOL.

Having ridden Cyclone, they were saved from a lot of pain and misery by the ride breaking down where it did. Though I think Green Lantern breaking down the way it did was far more serious.

To clarify, Hades 360; the inversion was the only smooth part. The ride was absolutely horrifying in 2012, my coaster count is at 615 according to coaster counter, and Hades 360 was by far the roughest coaster I have ever been on by a country mile. I'm not exactly soft either, so I can't say I was being overly sensitive about it. The shame is when I first rode it back in 2007, it was absolutely brilliant, back row at night was mind-blowing. The other coasters at Mt Olympus weren't super rough last time I was there, nothing exceptional as coasters, except the last drop on Cyclops. I actually like Mt Olympus personally, there's cool go-kart tracks, and lots of them, the ten foot wave pool, indoor and outdoor water parks. It was fun, though it is out of the way. Avalanche was a bit rough, much better front row. It's a funny little park, Timber Falls.