Noxegon

Thanks to everyone who helped me out over the last few days - much appreciated. I'll gladly return the favour if anyone is over my direction in the future.

Did it open yesterday as planned? Anyone actually ridden it yet?

For what it's worth, if the trains ride anything like the ones at De Efteling then it's not going to be the new best coaster in Australia. Though I'm happy to be proved wrong. Twenty-one hours of flight await...

Personally I think a sound effect might be best for the Giant Drop. I seem to remember walking towards that ride for the first time and hearing an incredibly passionate scream of "holy shit!" from a young female Australian :-)

Oh I dunno, I reckon that given the right circumstances Mick Doohan's Motocoaster could be quite a bit of fun...

They didn't. The baby one is still there: http://www.themeparks.ie/australia/advworl...gonexpress2.htm

If it's the Goetzke one that used to run on the German fairs, which the video would suggest - then you should find the drop is accelerated freefall, surprisingly intense.

How do you think I feel, diving head first into a mob full of Australians?!?!?

For what it's worth, I'm in the Gold Coast area on 28th/29th/30th, Sydney on the 31st, and Melbourne on the 1st/2nd. I'd love to meet up with any fellow enthusiasts in that time.

Fair enough. Don't suppose you have any spares do you?

No need to plan around me... I'll happily meet up with anyone there the day I'm around, but if another day works better for you all then that's cool too

I'm planning to visit on the 29th - and I'd love to meet up with anyone who was around.

Has the opening date for the re-theme been announced or is "Christmas" all the detail available? I wonder if they might be a little late...

Class A drugs?

Maybe I'm missing something in the translation from Australian to English (!) but is it possible that in their retheming they discovered some catastrophic problem with the ride structure that rendered it an uneconomical repair? Just a thought...

I think the Giant Drop at Dreamworld is well up there (pun intended) with the best thrill rides out there. I'd also chalk up an honorable mention for the Skycoaster at Old Town...

Agreed. I know quite a lot of them, and to be fair I'm occasionally guilty myself. However, look at it another way; imagine if you live within an easy flight of hundreds of small parks (which I do). Do you always want to go back to the large parks you've been to already, or is it worth trying somewhere new? Even with all the ridiculous number of parks and coasters I've done I've still got a bucket load of parks in Europe that I've not visited yet. It's true that most only have family coasters, but there are often other rides worth the effort. I don't know if there are any Wiegand Bobkarts in Australia for example, but I really love those and there are a whole load of them in otherwise irrelevant small parks in Germany.

To each their own. I can't say that I've much interest in wildlife in general - I walked around the requisite section of Dreamworld but didn't spend that long there.

Crikey! To be honest it doesn't hugely interest me... though maybe...

Bearing in mind that I don't generally do spin rides, the only attraction at Dreamworld that'd really encourages me to head back to the place is the Giant Drop - plus of course the Rugrats coaster that was closed on my last visit. Is it safe to assume that the Eureka Mountain Mine Ride is closed permanently given that it's not listed on the site any more? Personally I could spend an entire day reriding Scooby Doo at Warner Bros, and I was pretty taken with Superman too. I've also been kicking myself for missing the Looney Tunes River Ride last time, as dark rides are a major interest of mine. I know that the park is a half day one - which is fine, as I'll gladly take some time to do a little general tourism in Brisbane.

Gold Coaster, my e-mail is my first name at my surname dot org. Drop me a line. For the Aussie World day if you can get yourself to Brisbane airport for when my flight arrives I can drop you back to somewhere close to my route afterwards (I've booked into a hotel in Surfers Paradise). The only thing I'd caution you about is that I'll be pretty tired that day (three consecutive seven hour flights will do that to you!) so I will probably not want to stay at the park more than a few hours at the outside. Gazza, I'll certainly contemplate that. I'd happily have spent longer in the park but it was bloody cold the day I was there.

ash - Yeah, I know. However, having been to both already I know which one had the rides I liked better. As it is I might swap the parks around on the day depending on how things go. Gazza - Thanks for that, really appreciated. I'll certainly be doing that - I love those slides!

Right folks, I've decided to push the "go" button on this trip, so my plans now are confirmed as follows: 28 Dec - Arrive into Brisbane at 9:00am, then visit Aussie World. 29 Dec - Sea World (morning), Dream World (afternoon) 30 Dec - Warner Brothers Movie World (as long as i feel like) then some tourism in Brisbane, culminating in dinner at Big Fortune restaurant as per recommendation! 31 Dec - Travel to Sydney, try not to grumble at what my hotel cost (!), then watch fireworks at 9pm and midnight. 1 Jan - Travel to Melbourne, Luna Park 2 Jan - Some general tourism in Melbourne area followed by late evening flight. I'd love to meet up with any local enthusiasts at any of the listed parks. Drop me a private message if you're going to be around.

From a historical point of view I'm sorry to see Turbo Mountain go. It was after all the only Schwarzkopf coaster in Australia.

Perfect. The window I'm looking at is Dec 26-Jan 3 - which, allowing for flights, means I have six days to play with - 28/29/30/31/1/2. I will be arriving in Brisbane on the 28th, departing Melbourne the 2nd. I'm also contemplating going to see the fireworks in Sydney on New Years Eve, though I'm of mixed minds on this one as it'd be another flight and hotel change. So, for a non park related question -- with two or three days to spend in either Brisbane or Melbourne, what would people do? What sights would you go see?