Noxegon

I haven't read the full thread here, so apologies if I'm trampling – but the wood coaster at Tayto Park was built with wood imported from America, because it was cheaper to do that than source the correct wood locally.

So I hear that a roller coaster is in the plan... http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/daggy-gumbuya-park-to-get-50-million-makeover-20170621-gwvjdj.html Any hints as to what that might be?

It is. Hot Wheels isn't great, but the Luna Park scenic is awful.

Is Taipan still being presented elsewhere or is it history at this point?

Thanks for the clarity. I was told once that safety was the number one priority because one accident determined to be their fault would be the end of their business. I have no doubt that there are operators who are less conscientious out there – but I'd suggest that that applies to parks and carnivals in equal measure

I can't speak for Australia, but I know the people who run the largest travelling fair in Ireland and they put an extraordinary amount of effort into maintenance and safety testing – and as someone else noted above I'd say their rides are safer than those in big parks because they're constantly taken apart and checked during reassembly. I had a conversation with them some years ago regarding a design flaw they identified in one of their rides during a maintenance rebuild. Their work may well have saved lives since as all the similar machines out there had to be modified subsequently.

The "best coaster" in the Golden Ticket Awards usually goes to wherever the most recent ACE event has been held. Get ACE to hold an event at WBMW and it'll have a good chance

I'd be cautious about listing something as the best when we don't know a layout – or indeed anything other than the height and the manufacturer. There are an awful lot of interesting rides due to open in 2017. Here's just a few: https://rcdb.com/12413.htm https://rcdb.com/11034.htm https://rcdb.com/13796.htm https://rcdb.com/14116.htm https://rcdb.com/12256.htm There's also the Rocky Mountain conversion of Mean Streak which could well be a 2017 attraction. Time will tell.

They're building some fabulous rides of late. I'm doing a lot of work in Singapore at the moment and I'm going to extend one of my trips either at the back end of this year or the start of next in order to ride this. ...and yes, the fact that I'm going to do a trip to ride a new coaster doesn't automatically mean that it's good. But in this case, I have a lot of confidence.

Some forum threads really are a load of sh**...

Yegads, what a mess. I agree with what others have said here; it'd be better to close the ride than open it in a such a state. I sincerely hope there are plans to restore the theming in full.

For this year, I'd list, in no particular order - Fury 325/Carowinds - Wildfire/Kolmarden - Wicked Cyclone/Six Flags New England (awful operations but great coaster) - Twisted Colossus/Six Flags Magic Mountain - Storm Chaser/Kentucky Kingdom - Taron/Phantasialand - Valravn/Cedar Point - Screaming Condor/Leofoo Village - Lost Gravity/Walibi Holland - Flying Aces/Ferrari World Not quite sure what 2017 is going to bring in terms of coasters right now. We'll see.

I need to correct myself at this point, because it would appear that Reverchon is back in business as of last year – they've had two new installations in 2016: Policías y Ratones Boulets de Canon I suspect Zamperla is still more likely, but it's not a foregone conclusion. To add my thoughts to this, spinning mice *are* crowd pleasers, and to that end this is probably a good move for Aussie World. However, it's a shame that it had to come at the expense of a historical and fundamentally unique ride that is on the verge of disappearing forever. (As an aside, I can't help but wonder if the decision to scrap the ride was precipitated by the Dreamworld accident. I'm guessing that insurance on home-made attractions won't be cheap now.)

You are. That's a SBF Visa kiddie coaster

Just a brief point of fact. Pinfari as a manufacturer has been gone for a long time and in any case they never made spinning mice. Assuming that this is a new purchase it'll likely be a Zamperla – unless of course the park has bought the travelling one you already have, which is a Reverchon. And yeah, replacing a wood mouse with one of these is the coaster equivalent of replacing a Michelin-starred restaurant with a Hungry Jacks.

Nothing can replace the Wild Mouse for me. I'm hugely disappointed that they scrapped it given that there are only four others left now.

There's no reason why it'd have to close. They just have to rebuild it in a way that it doesn't hurt people. There's a Scenic at Great Yarmouth in England that's absolutely wonderful – so it can be done.

Genuinely amazed that nobody is outraged by Megan's stuff... and it has been a few days

Megan has just posted the latest chapter. I daresay this one will be a little controversial Without further ado, I give you... Luna Park Melbourne. http://pirouettes.org/?p=1872

That's terrible news Such a shame.

Surfrider was under maintenance at the time. But yes, there was a cyclone at the time – so we'd have lost it regardless – as we did Aussie World.

There are four more Australian parks – Luna Melbourne, Warner Bros, Dreamworld, and Sea World. I guess she might do something for the Ginger Factory too, though I don't know. There's still New Zealand too...

The latest Australia chapter is up – Wonderland Fun Park: http://pirouettes.org/?p=1836

My new job will have me in Singapore several times a year. I'm waiting for the new Movie World coaster before going back to Australia – when that opens I'll probably be down for a three day weekend As regards the gardens, this time I did USS, Legoland Malaysia, Gardens by the Bay, the Battlebox, Tussauds, and the Formula One. I've previously done a lot of the other touristy things like Haw Par Villa etc.

I'm actually on my way back to Ireland from Singapore at I type this – currently somewhere overhead Turkey – though I was travelling on my own for business rather than pleasure. Why do you ask?