aaronm

When it was all new and working I didn’t feel the screens added much but it wasn’t objectively worse. But for the last couple of years the ride has been running with most of the the next-gen elements in a broken state, the most egregious being the never-synched screens on the lift. Arguably it would have been better to just turn these off.

Wild Mouse outdoes Leviathan in the iconic stakes given its location and history. Scooby Doo is a clear winner though and pre “next generation” arguably the best themed ride in the country.

Steel Taipan is unfairly denigrated for being a (quasi) clone. If it was one of a kind people would be fawning all over it but because you can also ride something similar in Dubai or Rust coaster fans dismiss it as a copy. I love Superman’s theming when it works but for me it’s a lesser megalite and Steel Taipan offers a more exciting experience overall. Both are great coasters but ST’s triple launch and inline twist are the icing on a delicious cake.

It's probably easier to match Disney/Universal on food than attractions, and there always seems to be a market for "instagrammable" food, especially desserts. That said I'm not sure the market is there on the Gold Coast - based on what's most popular at Carnivale and DW's Night Market, park guests seem to much prefer more basic/traditional food offerings over anything else.

Abyss somehow manages to be the world’s roughest Eurofighter, which is saying something in a field full of headbangers. Big Dipper by a mile.

I think $30 is just too much for the experience, it’s too high for an impulse buy so apart from random enthusiasts they will struggle to sell seats. If the row is going out empty on 2 out of every 5 trains they should adjust the pricing. There’s money to be made but not at $30. IMO the spinning car on Tailspin is also overpriced, evidenced by it going out empty most of the time. $10-15 is about right for these upcharges. Rivals had it right early on.

I think the clock has run out on blaming Covid for delays, at least as a believable excuse. Two years of downtime is longer than most major coasters take to construct from scratch, so it’s entirely reasonable to ask what on earth is going on in this instance.

What do people think of the backwards ride? I find DC Rivals' backwards row to be a completely different experience that adds a whole new level of thrill. On Leviathan I thought it was interesting and fun to do once, but probably won't shell out for another go in future. It's not bad just not different enough to stand out.

Thanks for explaining the joke.

Can I suggest "The Wizarding World of Oz"?

With the theming teardown, 2.0 "upgrade", Covid closures, and now this, is it possible that by 2025 the ride will have spent less than half of its last decade actually open to guests? I'm also curious what these "state of the art harnesses" will be. It's been almost a decade since Mack built a wild mouse so there aren't any recent examples to draw on. Hopefully we don't end up with the horrible ankle restraints Coast Rider has, that one is basically unrideable for anyone with legs.

Typically I don’t consider relocations as “new” credits, but each to their own. I won’t count Project Zero as new, but that’s just my preference. At the end of the day a credit count only really matters to the person counting. As for the claims that SR will somehow ruin SE’s skyline, it’s less than half the height so I doubt this will be the case.

Without knowing the sort of budget they’re allocating to the relocation my gut feel is this is going to be closer to Green Lantern than Leviathan in terms of theming. I hope I’m wrong though!

Removing the smoking area entirely would be a welcome improvement.

It’s a shame as a Star Flyer is pretty much perfect for the park, but choosing an inferior model will hurt in the long run.

It looked like there was some additional roaming entertainment over the weekend but it'd be hard to recommend visiting MW before April. A lot of capacity is out of action and it will only take some unscheduled downtime on DCR or WWF to really limit the available options for a park day.

The “tail” is its own piece as well right? Does that make Leviathan the only coaster with a “trailing” car?

So is Expedition GeForce but nobody is suggesting Holiday Park is anything other than regional. It’s not an insult, it’s just a classification of the scale of a park and the budgets they have to work with.

Yes. The parks do well with what they have but there’s nothing on the level of Efteling or Busch Gardens, let alone Disney/Universal.

Enjoyed Carnivale this evening, pretty similar to previous years but obviously a stronger ride selection on offer. Enjoyed the dusk ride on Leviathan - the preshow works well when it’s dark outside. Food offerings seemed a little more limited, tried the shrimp bowl which was great and had a generous helping of prawns. Everything else was fairly standard theme park fare. I definitely miss the seafood chowder and key lime pie of years past. Can’t fault the atmosphere, plenty of music and entertainment around. Former parade floats make for a decent scenic addition to the gardens. Even the (retired) AOS elephant made an appearance. The Aqua Light Show was a highlight. It’s not the most innovative or sophisticated use of fountains and fireworks but this show is pretty great for a regional park. Performers were giving 100% even at the third show of the night. It’s a great use of the lagoon and gives the crowd a high to finish the night (even if some of them might still be waiting to exit the carpark…) While I’m not sure I’d pay $69 for a ticket Carnivale is a great inclusion in the annual pass and we’ll happily attend and drop our cash on food & drinks each year.

Finally got the chance to ride Leviathan today. The ride itself is fantastic, probably one of Gravity Group’s better coasters, and the theming is quite well done. The preshow isn’t always 100% effective depending on what else is happening in the station but overall it works well. As many have noted there’s definitely room to improve operations and dispatch times. Hopefully the park focus on this as even a short queue seems to end up with quite a long wait, rather odd for a ride with such simple boarding procedures. My only real gripe was seeing a couple of off-duty park staff (in uniform) being let in via the fast track queue with a few of their mates, pretty poor when it happens right in front of paying guests. Given these guys had to turn their park polos inside out to board the ride it’s unlikely to have been a paid tour. Not a good look, hope it doesn’t happen often.

Serpent Slayer being sandblasted within an inch of its life today. Also the theming on Candy Flyer seems incredibly cheap, hopefully it’s just temporary.

If Surfrider is indeed destined for Superman’s helix, has anyone thought about the poor displaced smokers? Where will they go now? 😆

Ocean Parade will soon include the Kung Fu Panda creek. 💦

I suppose a leviathan could be considered a type of sea serpent... 😜