downunder

It sounds like the event is getting better every year, even though capacity seems like a challenge. If I don't do the US haunts one October I may have to head up. Does the NIMBY factor limit operating hours? Even HHN in Hollywood has that problem.

The non-coaster enthusiast public are the ones who make up the majority of the market, from a commercial perspective their opinion is far more important than mine. I think Disney has shown how successful you can be if you can attract families, albeit they have always had the capital to build amazing attractions. I'm more impressed by Lantern than Buzzsaw personally, though I've got both parks down as "could do better" from my perspective. I'm going to the Gold Coast for the first time since 2007 just before Christmas, and I'm not that excited. I plan on going to Dreamworld and Seaworld, both of which I haven't been to since 2003. Movieworld I'll only go to if they soft open Green Lantern just before Christmas. I really feel for the amount of money thay spent on this attraction they could have got something much better. To be fair though I've been to parks all over the world so I'm seriously jaded, my last major coaster riding session was riding El Toro 20 or 30 times in a day (I've had a couple of odd rides since then, but nothing major).

Universal Studios Hollywood - Halloween Horror Nights: absolutely amazing event, the mazes were top notch this year, except for Wolfman which was very good, but paled in comparison. It's a very intense experience.

On-board audio is okay, wouldn't sell me though. Blue Fire is bizarre, it has a heart rate monitor like an exercise bike. BTW Blue Fire has excellent restraints. I'm hoping this will soft open just before Christmas, that would be very good by me.

1. El Toro 2. Balder 3. Phoenix 4. Boulder Dash 5. Bizarro (Six Flags New England) 6. New Texas Giant 7. Goliath (Walibi World Holland) 8. Nemesis 9. Montu 10. X2 Ones I haven't ridden that I think would be probable top ten: Intimidator 305, Expedition GeForce, Kawasemi, T-Express.

And drum roll please.... Cedar Point with Dinosaurs Alive - okay maybe not. There's more to come as well, in particular I'm watching with interest to see what Dollywood will be adding, the rumours are 212 foot wingrider but we'll have to wait and see. Sea World San Diego will get Manta which looks a similiar sort of coaster to Cheetah Hunt, and also Busch Willimasburg will get probably get something like that too. It will be very interesting to see if Knott's get their rumoured 340 foot hyper, they deserve something decent. Also I'm wondering if Everland in Korea will have their replacement for Eagle's Fortress ready in 2012. From what I've been told, it will be something f****ed up.

I love the look of this, it's a shame it's at Fuji-Queue. The regular 100' Eurofighters are a lot of fun, so a 140' plus launched Eurofighter should be insane.

I enjoyed that show. I'll try not to think of that tentacled beast in the hydrolic room when I'm rising KK in August. I love how they talked about the 160 km Superman at Magic Mountain, but had the Superman flyer from Great Adventure - if that went at 160km/h I'd be dead. I went to Gadv in 2005 after that had ironed out all the bugs, but alas it was closed for the day.

Maybe LW could at least fit out the trains with the new style SLC restraints which hug your chest and shoulders, I rode an SLC at Morey's Piers which had the new restraints and they totally eliminated ear bashing. For the record I thought T2 at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom was much worse than Lethal Weapon. I agree, Movie World sure could use something, another big-ticket attraction is needed much, crikey, the TPR mob liked Dreamworld better - now that's a bitch slap and a half. I've always marvelled at the quality of many of MW's attractions, but the quantity needs to pick up. Speaking as a potential customer, I haven't been in a long time because there isn't any new quality attractions to draw me back.

Mystery Mine is a really good themed ride, but only an OK coaster. It doesn't get going until the second half. SAW at Thorpe was much better, that was a fun ride. I've been on the 2 Zacspins in Scandinavia, and they're ok. They're a very different ride experience, but not really my cup of tea. I was surprised Magic Mountain got one. But in both cases, they are very eye catching coaster types that would be easy for Dreamworld to promote to the public. I'm not optomositic that the coaster will be anything special, but here's hoping.

They originally planned to go to Perth, they wanted to get every credit in Australia, but when the Schwarzkopf closed (Turbo Mountain?) it was difficult to justify going all that way for a Dragon Wagon. I've been on TPR tours every year since 2007 and will again this year, and they do get good deals. And their increasing profile with park smeans the ERT get better and better. I've ridden coasters like Balder, Superman Ride of Steel, and Boulder Dash 40+ times in a day. I give them credit, they made the Australia trip great, even though the parks on offer don't have the magnitude of attractions of larger markets.

It was a pretty small drop tower, space probe 7's illegitimate midget Italian lovechild. They had this weird revolving observation tower that went up on an arm, if you looked at it from some angles you can't see the arm and it looked like a flying saucer suspended in the air. Ah Gardaland, so many quirky things, Egyptian themed Terminator shooting rides, a Euro Pirates of the Caribbean knockoff... I'm surprised B & M isn't building any hypers for next year, though they're everywhere in US now, and they're a bit expensive for smaller parks. No inverts either. Hopefully the x-raptor concept takes off.

^I agree, I couldn't see them building a new park in the US or other large markets), let alone Australia. It would be nice if they did, I wonder if a top notch park could be a success in Sydney. Put in an Intamin pre-fab (like El Toro, Balder or T-Express) and a an Inatmin hyper like Geforce or Superman/Bizarro and I'd never leave Sydney to ride a coaster. So what I mean by a top notch park is one that doesn't have an Vekoma Boomerang as it's marquee coaster. The main reason I mention those two coaster types is that they seem to have enduring popularity, people would keep going back to ride them.

I went to Gardalnd in June, so I'm bummed I missed this one by a year, their other coasters are fairly mediocre (the mine train, Mammut was fun though). It's a really pretty park. Will this be the B & M that really pushes the envelope a lot (like Intamin does often), probably not, but here's hoping. I went on Kumba and Montu last month, they are seriously kick ass B & M's, they don't let up - like Nemesis.

That's interesting that it wasn't very crowded on Sunday night. October 31 falls on a Monday night next year, might be a very good night to go. Now that it is all over can anyone describe what happens/the scenes in the mazes especially SAW and Freddy? I'm very curious as to how they compare to the US versions.

He was in the park, some of the people I was with seem to know everyone at Universal. I just wound up chatting to him for a while, he's a nice guy, he was stoked I'd come from Australia to check out HHN. I only wanted to thank him for putting on such a great event but we had plenty to talk about. It was mad at LA HHN this year, it seems to be selling out every night, I went on 1 & 2 October and even that early in the season it was sold out both nights and chockers - thank heavens for Front Of Line Passes, worth every cent. Couldn't say the same for the Express and RIP tour options at Orlando HHN.

Well, been there rode that, I got there as early as possible (for a non-resort guest) and walked on from the single rider line. Though I found the line had built up considerably by the time I got out, like 30 - 45 minutes. HP is definitely the next step in this type of ride, the robot arm allows for more extreme movement than say a ride like Spiderman. It transitions well from real sets into the projected stuff. The real sets were well done though I didn't think they were very lively, there wasn't a lot of movement, mostly it was like caves but not a lot happened. Riding HP twice was more than enough for me because I'm more a thrill ride fan and I get sick from motion simulators but it's definitely top of the class for what it is. Tried out Butterbeer which was surprisingly good. Duelling Dragons/Dragon's Challenge was running great on both sides. I think the entry has been moved since Duelling Dragons (can't remember for sure) but the open air part gives you a far better view of the coasters in action.

I'm glad this is doing well, it just screams to Movieworld, do more of this. I was at Universal Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights earlier in the month and I was chatting to their creative director John Murdy and even he knew about what Movieworld was doing. He jokingly said - what are you doing here, isn't Movieworld good enough for you. I see even Luna Park Sydney is doing something for Halloween this weekend. Maybe next year for Movieworld, I'm so Halloweened out at the moment after Halloween Horror Nights in Orlando and Hollywood, Knott's Scary Farm, and Busch Tampa Howl O Scream.

I've been on Insane at Gronalund and Kirnu at Linnanmaki, and they are a unique experience. Some people on the tour loved them, I just thought they were interesting but not great. If you are facing outwards when you hit the bend on the drop it really punches you in the guts which is obviously uncomfortable (even moreso after the amount of alcohol I had consumed at Gronalund prior to our ERT session). I'm surprised SFMM got one of these just simply because they don't really have the capacity that I would expect a large park like SFMM would require. Hopefully they will have an entertaining queueline.

I did the Busch/Seaworld 7 day pass for $104 as that worked out very well for me as I'll be 2 days at Busch and 1 day at Sea World plus the Busch Bus to Tampa is free, when it is normally $10 return, so that saves me $20. I'm still mulling over my options for IOA / Uni, originally I had 2 days set down for them but HHN has a 3 hour Behind the Screams tour that I can only do on one those days at 2pm now. I might have to just jam in IOA around that, I've been to IOA before so there isn't a lot I want to do there. If you're a member of Club TPR, it's worth checking out if there's any discounts that work out well. I considered the Flex Ticket but I agree the doing Uni/IOA and Busch/SW separately works out cheaper. Also the flex ticket has to either be mailed or delivered to your hotel which they charge extra for, no e-Ticket for that one.

^I'm staying at a Days Inn much closer, from mapquest it looks like no more than 400 metres walk to the park. What I was worried about is whether I could get across the main road (s Kirkman Road) outside Universal i.e. if the different directions are separated by barriers and I've got to walk for miles to find a place to cross. http://www.daysinn.com/DaysInn/control/Boo...ropertyId=06930 I'll investigate closer to when I go.

I went the opposite of the resorts (which I seriously considered), and did a Days Inn across the road for $30 a night. So the pedestrian access is tricky to Universal (distance is not an issue, I'm a runner)? I'm in Orlando for 4 days and 5 nights, I've only got a day and a half to do USH/IOA and the only things I'm interested in are Rockit and Potter because all the other stuff I've done before and I'm only mildly interested in doing again. Here's my schedule: Arrive Sun arvo (3 Oct): go straight to Horror Nights Monday: Busch Tampa (unlimited 7 day Busch/SW pass was only $100, includes free bus to Tampa) Tuesday: Sea World Wednesday: Behind The Screams (half day) & ???? Thursday: US and/or IOA??? plus Horror Nights Friday: Head to Tampa morning, Busch & Howl O Scream Sat: Fly home from Tampa via LAX

Thanks Ash, I'll probably get the front of line passes too, shame they don't cover Potter or Rockit. I considered staying on-site but it wasn't worth it considering the amount of time I'll be at Universal during the day and the amount of interest I have in the Universal parks given I've been before. Hopefully Rockit will be running during Horror nights.

ash.1111, what were the crowds like at IOA? I'm going primarily for Halloween Horror Nights and Busch Tampa (including Howl-O-Scream) so IOA is a bit of an afterthought. I have no interest in Disney, haven't been to Animal Kingdom though.

I'll be there in less than 4 weeks, I'm not a Potter or motion simulator fan and I've been to IOA before so I'm not frothing at the mouth to check it out. But I'll probably be pleasantly surprised though I only did Spiderman once last time I was there even though it was walk on. The best tip I've heard is cut through Filch's Gift Shop, go past the lockers and you can get to the single rider line without having to wait in the regular line until you get to the single rider entrance.