liz.wis

I went on both Thunderbolt and Cyclone in Thunderbolt's last year of operation, and considered Thunderbolt pretty shaky at the time, and Cyclone as very smooth. I went on Cyclone again this year, and probably feels close to what Thunderbolt did at that time, though I was a sprightly person in my early 20s then, and a frail, old, 30 something now I wouldn't consider either ride as 'boring', but I have no plans to get back on Cyclone any time soon.

Apparently the new Seven Dwarfs Mine Ride at Disney World caught fire over the weekend: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/01/disney-world-train-fire_n_6088630.html

Thunderbolt, Corkscrew/Sea Viper.

12 months ago I would have said Dreamworld for sure, but they seem to be already making steps to improve at the moment. My next choice would have to be Sea World, there's nothing specifically wrong, but I think it just needs freshening up to bring a bit of life back to it.

I'm on the north side of Brisbane and got one today too.

In the video above, was the music part of the ride experience, or just added to the video?

I saw this on my FB feed this morning and thought it might be of interest - Oculus Rift / Real Life Coaster mesh

Taking out the 'Ride' part of the old Batman Adventure ride (particularly in it's earlier years when it was still done really well), I absolutely loved all the 'theatre' of the experience - the host taking the book out of the bookcase and opening the door, going in and seeing the Batman animatronic, etc, none of which is thrilling as described above. The simulator ride itself was fun, but it was more the experience I kept going back for, not the ride part. On one day alone I went on the thing 6 times straight, in the whole life of the ride, I would have gone on it many, many times. There's not really anything in JL that makes me want to keep going back.

I'm not really keen on it, but I can't put my finger on why. I just find it fairly uninspiring. I don't have a problem with the franchise, and it is well themed, it just falls really flat for me. I really enjoy the Laser Tag at Dreamworld, and will give it a go on most visits.

So Wet n Wild. Such Waterslides. Inbetweeners. Wow.

I've got appropriately aged children, but we only have DW tickets this year. I don't think it's the kind of ride that would solely sway me to get a VIP pass as well at the moment, as I can't see it being something either of my two would be particularly interested in.

Can anyone elaborate on the parent swap idea for me? Parents line up together with child, and then one rides on one cycle while the other watches the child then vice versa?

I was 5/6 when Expo was on, so I wasn't quite old enough for the amusement park attached, but I do remember some of the pavilions and shows. My favourite video as a kid was a taped news special, not unlike the one above, about Expo. I played that thing until the video cassette broke.

Not that we can tell much from that, but so far it looks like it'll resemble the concept art.

I went down there today, though sadly didn't get to try out Wipeout, but did get to watch it for a while, it seemed to be well enjoyed. Had my 5 year old, and we thought she'd be close to 120cm, but just missed out by maybe half a centimetre to get on. The operator on Shockwave did his best to see if she could stretch up enough, but we have high hopes for next visit. Overall they seem to be cleaning a few things up - I'm sure there was a bit less crap under shockwave, the lake looked the best it has in an age.

FWIW my 5 year old has plans of going on GD on Sunday, we're pretty sure she hit the height limit since last visit. I doubt she'd go on Panda in thrill mode, but def in soft mode.

I don't like Spin n Spews, so I didn't it on 'lame' mode to see if it was ok for the kids, but my husband (who also typically does not like them) really enjoyed it. He rated it as one of his favourites for the day.

I'm going to try and head down there on Sunday.

I know it can be unpopular here, but I seriously enjoyed multiple games of laser skirmish when I went last time.

I think the ride will be fun, a little concerned about capacity, but I'm definitely keen to give it a go.

Despite having always lived in Brisbane, I've only been to the Ekka 5 times in the last thirty-something years, and not at all since the mid 90s. I am somewhat thinking about it for this year. I don't actually ever recall going on any rides.

What age child are they aimed to go up to? My oldest is nearly 6, and happy to go on every coaster/flat ride she's tall enough for (and measuring herself for the Giant Drop every time we go to Dreamworld - I reckon she might be there in a month), while some of her friends would be scared to go on the Dronkey flyer. On the other hand, she's not swimming yet, and can't really go on any of the big slides at W&W.

The best day of no lines I've ever had was Sunday morning, during the first weekend of Schoolies week. Superman was about 1/2 hour, everything else pretty much walk on.

Surely models of the rides would be a bit more interesting than models of just buildings in Main Street?

It's probably in my case more to do with the fact it's been so long between rides, at least 10 years. And the first time I was absolutely petrified.