DJKostya

This is an interesting story coming out of Germany where a new ride has been closed, and will be redesigned, due to the appearance of the ride being compared to a swastika. https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/incidents/german-theme-park-forced-to-shut-down-new-ride-after-people-realised-it-looked-like-flying-swastikas/news-story/4b16890710a64d85b5761e3d89a4862e

When I worked in a theme park overseas operating a roller coaster I can confirm that it happens more frequently than you probably think. During peak periods it can happen daily, but once every few days was pretty standard.

True that, but the lockers there are free now as MickeyD pointed out. I do remember once they asked me to remove a used tissue I had in my pocket, I asked if they had a bin I could put it in but was told I would have to exit and get rid of it myself (Which I understand), luckily they let me jump the queue when I came back. I guess my advice was more general advice for visiting a park on your own. I will admit there has been a few times (Pre-Superman's free lockers for example) where I have popped everything into my shoe or sock, which is why I carry minimal items.

Hiya, Welcome. I frequently travel solo to theme parks, mainly because I tend to travel solo quite a bit for various reasons. Here are my tops tips for visiting a theme park solo: 1. Shorts/Pants with a zip up pocket are a lifesaver, especially for rides where you can take all your items with you. Bonus is to take a sandwich sized ziplock bag to pop your phone/wallet etc. into for wet rides where you can carry items, but also for quick dumping into storage bins provided at rides. 2. Pockets should have the minimum possible in them. I usually get by with either $20 (Enough usually for lunch) or my Debit card and my car key. Everything else can be left in the car (If I drove). Depending on the park and the facilities offered I may also take my mobile phone to occupy me in lines while I wait otherwise I leave it in the car. 3. Alternatively if I have to carry more that the minimum (Usually the case if you don't drive) I grab an all day locker that can be opened and closed as much as I want throughout the day. Sure it's annoying to have to go back and forth but it makes it easier to dump stuff then go on a ride and grab stuff when you need it. 4. Single rider lines are your friend, usually. Australian parks don't generally do these as well as overseas. What I have done in the past is talked to people heading into rides in odd numbers and asked if I can tag along to make the group even (Like being the 4th person in a B&M row or the 6th person in a raft ride for example). It works more often than not and you may get a better seat than waiting for a single ride spot. 5. Alternatively team up with someone else in the single rider line to form a duo. I've met some really cool people this way, usually they are enthusiasts whose friends aren't as keen on theme parks. Hope those tips help!

I'm sorry to sidetrack but is that RONALD MCDONALD riding Wipeout?!?!?

True but there will be some risk for a potentially big payoff.

Oh I definitely agree that a Raptor has nowhere near the visual impact of a Hybrid but (playing devil's advocate) what it may end up coming down to in the end is value for money. How much CAPEX can they actually spend? If they can get a few CAPEX projects for the same cost as an Hybrid, including a Raptor say, then it may be better to go for the additional attractions rather than 1 big attraction. That being said there's also nothing to stop Dreamworld from approaching RMC about a T-Rex model either. Not only would that one up Rivals visually but being what is likely to be the first T-Rex model would also generate interest in the park.

I have ridden Railblazer at CGA (I did a trip report on it a few months back). I have included my thoughts on it below. A Raptor from RMC would be an excellent addition to any of our parks. They are compact (Think GL size footprint), pack a punch with speed, airtime and thrills and, if run properly, soak up decent crowds but also get them through quite quickly. RailBlazer 10/10 Brand spanking new RailBlazer. MF has finally been knocked off my number 1 position. This is the future of coasters in my opinion. Compact but once you get off the lift chain this thing does not stop. Fast, intense and the smoothest coaster I have been on in a long time. Massive airtime! This park is worth visiting just for this. Being new the queue was over 2 hours but the staff nailed the reloading and dispatch. One train would go out and the other would come in. Flawless. If you do get there definitely wait for the front seat. It is definitely worth it!

That's why I said, Pie in the sky

So pie in the sky, but here's what I would do. Keep in mind this is at LEAST a 5+ year plan. Shut the place down for 6 months (Winter months) and do a complete clean up. Paint attractions, tidy up/install more gardens, full safety audits, remove covers from RHLR etc. Throughout this process making sure that staff are well trained, the park is well kept and the park is well maintained. Moving forward here are the projects I would look at putting in place: 1. Bring back the paddle steamer, including cleaning up the river. 2. Review and extend the railway including more stops (i.e. potentially bringing the line down past Buzzsaw, perhaps in the old Wipeout space, WWW entrance, Tiger Island, Wiggles World etc.) and bringing back the steam engines. 3. Upgrade ToT, they should have done it when they had the chance. 4. Complete retheme of Gold Rush, Buzzsaw has a decent back story so somehow incorporate that into the new theme. New area including 2 new flat rides, perhaps a suspended Top Spin to replace Wipeout, but with heavy themeing and perhaps something a bit more family friendly like a good haunted house style attraction similar to Disney. The as the centrepiece of the new area a woodie that can run along the back of RHLR. 5. Remove MDMC and build either a Hyper that utilises the island in the middle of the river (Think EuroDisney BTRR by going under the water). Alternatively using the same space a B&M Dive Coaster. 6. Remove HWSW and replace with something new from RMC or even S&S (Steel Curtain at Kenneywood looks like it is going to be awesome!) 7. Next up is the old Thunderbolt site. New world for Dreamworld. Centrepiece is perhaps an RMC Raptor. It's close to WWW so lets try and fit some sort of boat splashdown dark ride in the area (Think Jurassic Park at Universal), who doesn't love getting wet on a hot day! Only because it was also mentioned recently on Parkz why not also look at a Freefall Drop Tower. So looking at themeing for the area i'm going with the Lost Mine (Freefall could be themed as an oil tower, boatsplash as the mine is flooded, Raptor is runaway mine etc.). That's at least some sort of plan. Sure it would cost quite a lot to implement but as the saying goes you have to spend money to make money. Dreamworld sorely needs new attractions to bring people into the park and in general needs a really good tidy up. Yes I also realise I have completely forgotten WWW.

Ah forget the poll!

Of course they decide to mention ride stoppages here in Australia. Some great pics of the ride though. https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/tourists-left-dangling-48m-in-the-air-after-rollercoaster-malfunctions/news-story/eff24e1ff2f96fccb62db27c46f58346

It's not that hard to get to really, sure the timing of public transport sucks, but it's pretty cheap. If you can drive it's even better, it's only about 90 minutes from Cleveland. And Cedar Point is of course well worth the trip. MF is one of the best coasters I have ever been on.

On my last visit I caught the train to Sandusky, it kinda sucked though as it leaves Cleveland at 2am (It is part of the New York to Chicago line) but it was super cheap (US$6 one way!), it is also quick and was generally much much better than the bus (Which I have also done in the past). There is a taxi service in Sandusky, most trips to and from the park cost me about $10 each way. It is not your normal kind of taxi service though, more like Uber. You call their mobile number (Which I still have if you want it) tell them where to pick you up and when. I highly recommend getting the parks mobile app, it's great for queue times etc. and the park has free wifi throughout. I stayed off the Point at a budget motel, wasn't anything super fancy but it was clean and the owners were really friendly (They let me stay in the room the day I checked out because my bus didn't leave Sandusky until 7pm).

Rarely, but it does happen occasionally.

I've ridden TrailBlazer at CGA and I actually think a Raptor would be an awesome fit for SeaWorld. TrailBlazer was compact but super fast and intense. Load and unload was very very quick and could easily be done by a single staff member, plus ride operator.

If you have time whilst in Paris you should also check out Parc Asterix. Has some great coasters (And also the infamous Goudurix) and is awesome if you were a fan of the books. https://rcdb.com/4790.htm

Further to my trip report here is one from Theme Park Overlord which pretty much confirms what I said about Harley Quinn, potential but rough and uncomfortable https://www.themeparkoverload.net/2018/09/six-flags-discovery-kingdom-harley-quinn-crazy-coaster-review-analysis-skyline-attractions-skywarp-big-belly-burger-fright-fest.html

I actually don't mind the video but space it out, maybe actually play the movie in between.

Having just come back from SFDK, I would give it a miss and do CGA instead.

So I have just returned from a trip to San Francisco. Luckily I was able to drop into Six Flags Discovery Kingdom & California's Great America. Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (If you're in San Francisco it's easy to get to on the ferry then either bus or uber) To be honest the only reason I visited this park was to ride an RMC conversion. At the end of the day that was about the only thing worth it at this park. I grabbed a Flash pass (Same system as Dreamworld Q4U) as it was a long weekend which helped me to get onto everything and a few repeats. As a solo visitor though carrying around that bulky device was a massive pain in the butt. The most disappointing thing about this park was the downtime. There was 2 rides down for the entire day (Maintenance so that's fair) but over the entire 6~7 hours I was there not ONCE was every ride up and running. Every ride went down at some point, the 2 maintenance guys were running around from ride to ride. Vertical Velocity didn't open until after 5pm, not great considering the park closed at 8pm. Harley Quinn's Crazy Coaster 3/10 OK so this is new this season, and it has not aged well at all. This was very very rough and not very enjoyable in my opinion because of the roughness. If it wasn't sorough it would have been OK Cobra 6/10 No pics of this one, but it was a family coaster. Not a bad ride, quite fast and lots of heavily banked turns. Big plus? You did 2 circuits of the track Joker 8/10 This was my first RMC and whilst not the biggest RMC conversion out there this was an awesome ride, I can't wait to ride one of the bigger ones. Fast and super smooth (By coaster standards!). The inversion where you actually stay upside down and travel for a distance before coming back right way up was awesome. The restrains (lapbars) were also great but word of advice dudes, there is a part the goes between the legs that may hit you in not so great places. Kong 4/10 Standard SLC, rough as guts, need I say more? Medusa 6/10 Medusa turns 18 this year, and it feels like it. This would have to be hands down the roughest B&M I have ever ridden, it's even starting to lose the trademark B&M roar. Aside from that it was a pretty decent offering. The interesting thing I found with Medusa though was the paint fading. IMO it actually looked really good! Superman Ultimate Flight 7/10 BuzzSaw, but longer and with an extra loop. I actually really enjoyed this one! Dreamworld should have built this. California's Great America After SFDK this was a really good park. Well laid out, well presented and super helpful staff, standard Cedar Fair. Again I I visited on $1 day. Hot Dogs, Pizza, Popcorn etc. was all $1, I ate way too many hot dogs. CGA is kind of difficult to get to from San Francisco at the moment but a BART station has been built and should open soon (I had to get the train). Again I grabbed a fast pass and it was worth every cent. RailBlazer 10/10 Brand spanking new RailBlazer. MF has finally been knocked off my number 1 position. This is the future of coasters in my opinion. Compact but once you get off the lift chain this thing does not stop. Fast, intense and the smoothest coaster I have been on in a long time. Massive airtime! This park is worth visiting just for this. Being new the queue was over 2 hours but the staff nailed the reloading and dispatch. One train would go out and the other would come in. Flawless. If you do get there definitely wait for the front seat. It is definitely worth it! Demon 6/10 Made me miss the old SeaWorld Corkscrew. Surprisingly smooth for a coaster of its age. Flight Deck 7/10 This has got to be the shortest B&M ever. That being said it was still a fun ride. The final helix over the water was awesome. Patriot 6/10 I kind of wish that this was still a stand up instead of a floorless. The layout is definitely designed to be a stand up. Still not a bad little ride. Grizzly 8/10 This was a great woodie. Fast with lots of twists and turns. Bumpy but not uncomfortably so. Goldrusher 3/10 This is ripe for an RMC conversion or needs something done to it. Hands down this was one of the roughest woodies I have ever been on. I rode Mean Streak days before they closed it to convert it and this is just as rough. Lots of people complaining as they got off. That aside the layout, speed and overbanked turns were awesome. Well that sums up all the big coasters! Now sleep.

It's probably nothing or something i have overlooked but just looking at the Jamberoo Wikipedia page and this caught my eye Since when does Jamberoo have a roller coaster? Or am I missing something? The page was last edited on 9 June 2018 and i don't recall ever having seen a roller coaster listed on the page.

Artwork makes it look a bit like a giant squid or the Kracken. So perhaps Thunder Downunder?

This appeared this morning, doesn't sound good for LPS https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/luna-park-future-in-doubt-after-court-ruling-on-new-ride-says-owner/ar-BBKWaGd?ocid=spartanntp

An article that is actually quite positive about Dreamworld https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/dreamworld-left-reeling-as-inquest-lays-bare-shocking-shortcomings/news-story/854fc4d864d7128a1ae8eb52012f6895 Dreamworld left reeling as inquest lays bare shocking shortcomings Jeremy Pierce, The Courier-Mail July 3, 2018 12:00am IT’S as ironic as it is tragic. There has probably never been a better time to go to Dreamworld. Almost two years after the theme park tragedy which claimed four lives, Dreamworld has been left reeling again as an inquest laid bare the shocking shortcomings that contributed to the disaster. Around the Gold Coast, people have murmured that as horrific as the October 2016 tragedy was, in some ways the inquest has been worse. This was not simply some one-in-a-million freak accident. Some of the evidence presented at the inquest in terms of training and safety procedures almost defied belief. But if any good can come from the deaths of Kate Goodchild, Luke Dorsett, Roozi Araghi and Cindy Low, it is as the catalyst to ensure nothing like that terrible day ever happens again. Which is why Dreamworld today is safer than it has ever been. Safety audits carried out after the Thunder River Rapids disaster revealed major compliance issues — issues that have since been rectified and then some. Dreamworld now is in far better hands than it was two years ago. Crowds have been slow to return and Gary Weiss, the chairman of Dreamworld’s parent company Ardent Leisure, concedes it is now a battle to regain trust. Since the inquest adjourned on Friday afternoon, action has been swift. CEO Craig Davidson, a popular and brave leader in the aftermath of the tragedy, has fallen on his sword. More executive-level changes are in the works and already a new risk management expert has been appointed. Ironically, the holiday-makers prepared to visit Dreamworld now are making the most of it. Dreaded ride queues are virtually non-existent, which means more bang for your buck. It’s now often possible to tick off all of Dreamworld’s ‘Big 9’ thrill rides in a couple of hours, leaving more time to wander the park’s new attractions, like the revamped Tiger Island, Australia’s first LEGO store and a new Trolls Village, a world-first based on the characters from the Dreamworks movie franchise. For the opening weekend of the school holidays, Sunday was quiet, but crowds on the Friday and Saturday immediately beforehand were huge. That coincided with a chance for season ticket holders to renew their annual passes at a discount. Just a few weeks earlier, another promotional deal packed the place, to the point the car park — often mostly empty in the months after the tragedy, was overflowing, with hundreds of cars parked along nearby service roads. Clearly, those people are prepared to give Dreamworld another chance. So are many on the Gold Coast, where Dreamworld is one of the region’s biggest employers. Most of us know people who work there and it has been the scene of some of our best memories. Most hope that despite the tragedy of October, 2016, and the shock of last week’s inquest, Dreamworld still has a future. A future that we can all be a part of.