joz

Tell ya something based on that point: Scooby Doo is one of my fav. rides, yet Mulholland Madness (MACK Wild Mouse) is one of my least favs. Go figure ay?

It seems a real shame that Wonderland have gone down the route of cut-backs. WVTPs experimented with a cutback in staff numbers this year, but were very quick to bring the levels back up again. By cutbacks, I mean one person operation on Corkscrew and 2 ops on Cartoon Beach (4 rides) and the 'more controversial then it should have been'; ride rotation at Movieworld. Also, to correct a point from earlier, genrally, staff on Bermuda work there all day. They change between Platform, Pre-show and queue control every half-hour, and every 15mins later on in the day. After 4, everyone stays where they are for an hour, although sometimes a person working Bermuda will close the Pirate Ship in full Bermuda clothing. It is my opinion then that Space Probe staff can work there all day, but its a bit difficult when there's only two jobs to do . >>Back onto topic<< I think that themeing does play a role, and indeed, if every effect was working as it should, then to me, space probe may be a contendor. As it stands, GD offers more thrill, and just as good themeing as what SP does. GD is after all themed to a Giant Oil... thingy. When I went on it, all I saw was a themed queue line, which I walked straight through and very little else. Based on the ride itself, GD to me (my opinion) in the better ride of the two, and the themeing to me is not enough to give Space Probe the edge. Even if all Space Probe's themeing was working, I dare say GD will still get the nod from me. Also, before anyone says I'm biased towards Dreamworld, read other most other posts to find I'm quite anit-Dreamworld

I think its good to see the park helping with the international breeding program (sounds corney doesn't it?). They've done some great work with Bengal Tigers, with the birth of 'Awsome Pawsome' some years back.

Well, since this topic has been brought to the surface again, I'll do my best to drag it back on topic by saying Nemesis is my number 1, followed closley by Scooby Doo. AIR and Oblivion, despite being excellent rides, they didn't have the same affect as what going on Scooby for the first time did. The whole lazer show and loud rock music really worked with me

I'm sorry, which Luna Park are we talking about here? Fact is, Luna Park Melbourne could do with a new coaster (Where you'd put it is beyond me) but Luna Park Sydney, probably wouldn't work with a new coaster. Just want to see what I'm dealing with first...

Thanks for the map Nezzur! Pretty effective way of ending that argument. Still even, 6 votes all. Relativly even voting

Croc hunter theme park ay? Interesting move, best of luck to the guy. Agreed about the need to do up Australia Zoo. I haven't been there for many years. It was still the Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park when I went. Even so, judging by what I see on the telly, I think it would benefit from a bit of doing up. Steve's got a real passion for animals, and it shows. All the people I know who've met him reckon he's as mad as a cut snake even when the cameras aren't on him, so its not really a selling point. It’s just him. He really loves animals, so he'll be big on making all the exhibits as good as they can be. I do however get the impression that he's still learning about animal Husbandry, Management, and exhibit design, and hasn't got it quite down yet. I do have one piece of information, which may be of interest here. He's very keen to surround himself with the best animal people around. He wants the best in terms of Animal care, Exhibit designers, veterinarians and the like to work for him. Here's the interesting bit, he's supposedly interested in getting people to work who don't necessarily work with Australian animals or any of the animals he has at the zoo. I get the feeling (as the article mentioned, wish I'd said all this first :| ) that he is going to be expanding Aussie Zoo in some big ways soon.

Indeed, coasters are the most 'sexy' to market. However, they do require vast amounts more capital then a new water park would. Judging from history (this goes back to 1982), the biggest spikes in attendance at SW came from Flume Ride, Corkscrew, Monorail and Polar Bear Shores, which as you'll see, are 4 rather different types of attractions. The only thing they had in common, is that are among the better marketed additions. I think Dreamworld could add anything they want and it'd generate huge attendance boost if marketed strongly. Something which Dreamworld is very good at and have just about perfected since the introduction of Big Brother and the 'Xtreme World' promotions. I'll tell you one thing about this, no matter which way you look at it, its not a smart move doing nothing to the water park while potential guests go to Wet 'n' Wild. Dreamworld would not be thinking that having that is a satisfactory situation. With around 600,000 guests going to Wet 'n' Wild (admittedly this has allot to do with the 3PSPs) each year, there is defiantly a market for a better water park at Dreamworld. I don't think its a coincidence that the Tiger Cubs were introduced the same year as the Polar Bear cubs, nor do I think its purely chance that a Movie themed walk through is being built the same year as Matrix.

I can imagine that it'll work similar to Calypso Beach, in that the tubes for Whirlpool will not only be noticeably different from those which are hired, but staff will also monitor the area to make sure none are taken into the wave pool. I agree, it does suck that you have to pay for the tubes, but I equally think that you don't really need them to have a good time. Just seeing everyone else with a tube makes me want one

Alton Towers - Day 2 After experiencing Corkscrew (grand total of one ride), we made our way over to X-Sector, on a path which took us past the 17th century castle that gives the park its name. The towers its fair to say, weren't in the best state they've been in over the past 300 years. Really, they were no worse then most other places, and I was happy to see restoration work going on. After around a 5min walk, we came across X-Sector. Home to Oblivion, the world's first blah blah blah. We watched it a couple of times; each was greeted with a laugh, and the words "I think I'll sit this one out". I was having none of that, after little more then 10 secs of trying to persuade him (I can persuade people pretty quickly), we were queuing up. Two or three re-rides later, we were ready to move on to the parks Space Mountain rip off, Black Hole. Ok, Black Hole wasn't nearly as bad on the second day. The queue wasn't 40 min as it had been the day before, but was now only 2 or 3 min, which did allot for my enjoyment of the ride. Alan was quite shocked by the ride, which probably had something to do with the 'don't know what to expect' nature of the ride. Probably the best way to describe it, is thunderbolt like transitions taken with a lap bar in total darkness with someone between your legs. Having someone between your legs is not a bad thing if its your girl or boy friend (which ever is appropriate), but when its a friend, and someone you don't want to get to know in that sort of way, then its a near unbearable situation. It also leaves you walking funny. After Black Hole, we decided to grab a bite to eat around in the gardens. I filled myself with McDonald's. I'm dead against fast food chains in theme parks, but couldn’t resist the lure of a double quarter pounder, which priced the same as everywhere outside the park. After lunch, we tried out the parks more mundane rides, starting with HEX - The legend of the towers. A fun ride, which does its job of disorientating its riders very well. Its a bit of a cliché to say that you loose track of which ways up and which ways down, but its true, you really do feel like your going upside down. It’s definitely an experience I'd recommend, even if the ride is a bit weak. 7/10 We decided to try out the other end of the park, seeing what was there, and finding a rather nice, if not very old and decrypted, 3D Cinema. Ok, so there weren't any chairs, and only the smallest portion of the screen was used. Fair enough that the film was worse then Honey I shrunk the Audience (I didn't think such a thing was possible), and I would have been tempted to pay £5 for a re-run of Pirates instead. Through all the adversity though, Alan enjoyed it, so it must get a couple of extra points for that 3/10 Next was the parks Log Flume. Its very similar to most log rides of this era, in that it was old and just a wee bit tacky. I remember thinking as a 7-year-old that the whole ride felt as if it could collapse under its own weight. Still it does have a few redeeming features. One of them being that it is a fairly long ride (around 5 min I think). Another being that it makes a drop in pitch black darkness, something which I've been a fan of since going on Pirates of the Caribbean not long before. Even the final drop on the ride was relatively big. Granted it was an old ride, but I'll give it a 6. The rest of the day was made up with no-wait re-rides on Nemesis and AIR (nearly 2 hours worth). Probably the best day out I've had at a park, not too busy, basically fine weather, and the park gave me no reason to start nick picking and just allowed me to enjoy my day.

Well, after seeing what I've seen over here, I'd love to see Movieworld build a swiss coaster like everyone else, but rather then building a hyper, I think they should go down the 'well themed' route. They are after all, a movie themed park, I think it would be a shame if they let themselves turn into Six Flags style thrill park. Besides all that, I've found that the best rides I've been on are the well themed ones. Nemesis, Oblivion, Big Thunder, all excellent. Cali. Screaming, despite being a really good coaster, it was nothing compared to the well themed rides. Scooby Doo proved that a ride doesn't have to be "The tallest or the fastest" to be a good ride. But if you can put in a major ride (B&M, Intamin or whatever) and theme it well, like has been done with Nemesis, then you've got a champion ride. Behind Scooby (and dare I say taking up some of the Mavarick building?)would be a nice place to put it, although they'd have to be careful not to let that make the park even more congested. Maybe they could have the entrance next to Lethal Weapon and a path way around the back to Wild West? Also, now that Movieworld Studios have a bit of history, I'd like to see the park re-start the studio tour, but perhaps with some kind of door on the trains to stop people getting out and wandering around the studios (which is apparently why they were canceled). Or instead of that, how about replacing Looney Tunes Musical Reveue with a wild west themed railway (yes, you heard me!) to take guests from the front of the park to around near the Wild West section? Biggest draw back with this is does create a bit of a block between the stuidos and the park, but who says that has to be a bad thing? After all, the park and the studios each has their own entrance, and it probably wouldn't be that hard to make it go through a tunnel at some point (or even for a substansial lenght) to allow access between the two. Just an idea anyway.

Nice and even, 3 votes a peice 8) Question, is theming on an outdoor free-fall ride a bit of a waste of time, since no matter how well themed it is, all you can see around you is the rest of the park?

Never is that more apperent then when you first walk into Disneyland. I was fully expecting to see an Imax theater somewhere after I entered it was that much alike. Although, to be fair, this idea about a playground at Dreamworld does sound much like Adventure Island at Seaworld, which was also succesfully pinched from Disneyland. The only reason I can not agree with the above posts about a new playground, is because I can't see Dreamworld doing a tasteful job that doesn't destroy the theming of that area of the park. You can just see a Giant Drop walkway inspired bridge, built high enough to allow the paddlewheeler to pass (Read it slowly and it makes a bit more sense :? )

Amen to that!

I must say, it does seem an interesting stratagy to put in a Tomb Raider-themed walk through attraction, to go up against a Matrix-themed walk through attraction. Be interesting to see which comes out on top

I'm quite inspired by the conversation going on in another theard, and I think it deserves its own one. So I put it to you guys, which is better? Space Probe with its Dome at the top and themed queue, or Giant Drop, with its height and extensive views? Personally, I'm voting for Giant Drop. The wait at the top is one of the best expereinces I've had on a theme park attraction.

Get something while your up there Sydrider, the Album's waiting for ya Richard (and everyone else)- don't go just yet. I've got trips to all 3 WVTPs planned for as soon as I get back, and it'd be great to see some of you.

While on Tower of Terror, how about doing something about those ugly white buildings underneath the track? You could make them look like little cottages or something, but the ride looks awful over the top of Model T Lane. I think that Thunderbolt site doesn't need any work to be done straight away. Even though its the most likley place where capital expenditure will go, I still don't think its vital, since Cyclone has already been built to keep the parks thrill level up. How about upgrading Gum Tree Gully? Put an indoor ride where the Outback Celebratio/Country Jamboree used to be, (I'm thinking Vekoma crazy house, since I think Dreamworld would really benefit from more family rides). From memory, that area is pretty big, so you could probably aceive this without having to re-route the train or any of the paths, so thats a plus. That area of the park is one of the nicest in the park, and is a great place to have lunch. So I'm not proposing a change of the appearence, more of a fresh breath of life into a neglected corner of the park which has been on a bit of a downhil spiral since they stopped doing the show on the paddlewheeler.

Problem for me with Space Probe, is that the themeing never went beyond the queue line. If the ride itselfy was themed then I'd agree, but with Space Probe, once you get into the station, the theming ends. I also personally prefer the views Giant Drop offers rather then the count down on Space Probe, but thats just my opinion. Agree/Disagree?

I like the idea of doing up the water park. The slides they've got there are great, but I think a good expansion (with increased capaticy) would do the park quite a bit of good. For me, you could expand that water park really well by going over the train track. You could even put a water park station in there and link the area up with Rocky Hollow. If not, I'd like to see the park do something with the Entrance Plaza. Even though I loved walking in through their as a kid, I'd love to see the park give it a face lift. You know, take out all the '80's stuff and put something modern in.

Yeah, but I want to go home at 9. :x

Alton Towers - Day 2 Well, Idid the stupid thing, I went back to Alton Towers on Tuesday, knowing full well that Nemesis wasn't to be open until Wedensday. I was still hoping for the ride to be brought out of its re-hab early. Even on the monorail to the entrance, I was teased with the sight of an empty train going around the circut. However, with the clouds overhead, and a very light attendance, I wasn't particually hopefull. All hope was lost when a sign outside the park listed the ride as being closed for the day. Oh well I sighed, as I payed my £15 to enter the park. I was with another relative this time, this one was 63, and I thought he'd like the scenery (he'd already confirmed that he wouldn't be going on AIR or Oblivion). I figured we'd be spending most of the day checking out the parks smaller attractions (something which I had neglected to do a week earlier. We started the day with a ride on the parks chairlift. Not a bad ride it is, but its hard to trust cars which are designed to dis-engage with the cable when you are being suspended 200feet above the valley floor. With this thought in mind, we got off at the ride's first stop, Forbbidan Valley. On the distance, we could see AIR, and as we walked towards it, Ripsaw started a sequence on our left. We watched it for a couple of mins as the 3 or 4 riders were soaked through to the bone, on a day when the tempreture wouldn't get above 10 degrees. Something about watching it sparked a change in Alans opinion of the place. He stood there, with a huge smile on his face, and his promise of not going on any Roller Coasters went out the window, as we continued to walk towards AIR. Oh what a feeling to have a zero train wait for a B&M flyer. We walked through the queue to find the train waiting for us. Alan straped himself in, and over the speakers, came the voice, which sounded like it had been extracted from Loard of the Rings: "Prepare for AIR". I couldn't beleive what I was doing. I just made a 63 year old -soon to be grandfather- go on AIR, first thing in the morning. The whole way through the ride I was scared out of my mind for him, reading about the poor lady who had a heart attack on Hulk at IOA hadn't helped my feelings of impending doom either. We swooped through powerful turns, through tunnels, and high over the surrounding paths. At the end of the ride I asked for his reaction......... "Lets go again!" Bugger me, I think I've uncovered a coaster enthiuest. We went on AIR twice more, but then it started getting busy (by busy, I mean in excess of 3 min wait times). So we had some caffeine, as both of us had been up since 7, and were drinking the night before until 12.30. It was at this point that my day made an unexpected turn for the better. "Will the following people, please report to Nemesis:..." The announcement said a few names, and was followed by a recorded message. "Nemesis is expereancing a temporary delay, and at the moment, we are unable to advise on when it shal re-open. Thank you for your paitence". After a few mins, we'd walked to the entrance of the ride, to find the queue rails open, and allowing people in. I couldn't beleive my luck. The ride had opened a day early. Without consulting Alan, we'd walked into the queue area. The quality of the theming unbeliveable. The coaster, as everyone said, was tightly woven into the landscape, and the queue as wound tightly into the coaster. About halfway through the queue, the first train of the day took off from the station. We watched it hurtle at break neck speeds through a couple of corkscrews, and in and over the most beautiful vertical loops in existance, and then it was our turn. I had very high expectations from this ride. I was originally dissapointed when I found out the ride would be closed, but as soon as opened, the expectations were still sky high for this ride. It was this ride that I had looked forward to most. For years before hand I'd been longing to go on this coaster. The second B&M invert, and so I'm told, debatably the best, and non-debatably, the most intense. As if to add to the gloomy atmosphere, a light drizzle had engulfed the whole ride area just as we entered the station to board. Once on board, I had barley enough time to sit down before an attendant had come past and fastened the seatbelts. Mere seconds later, the floor lowered, and we were off. What can I say about this ride that hasn't been said before? "One word: WOW!!" has already been said in just about every trip report on the planet, and "NEMESIS ROCX!!1!" had also been taken. I'll just tell you that Nemesis, is exactly as your expectations would have you beleive, fast, intense and fun. You've read your Roller Coaster Tycoon manual, and John Wardley has spoiled the last corkscrew for you, but that doesn't take away from the experience. All the standards you expected from the ride are met, and in most cases exceeded. An instant 10 out of 10 ride. What did the 63 year old Alan have to say after going on a ride which is famous for being one of the most intense inverts ever built? "Bloody hell, where do we go to go on again?" To top off the fact the ride had opened at all, we were in re-ride heaven. Not once did I have to queue for the ride, and with its (very efficient) 2 train operation, quite often an empty train was cycled to allow the second train to enter the station. Next we headed off to X-sector, via that dodgey chairlift, and UG land. Home to Alton Towers Vekoma corkscrew. Now I know exactly what your thinking, after going on Nemesis, corkscrew a 23 year old vekoma sit down looper, may seem like a bit of an anti-climax. But alton towers has done something quite remarkable: what was once the signiture thrill attraction for England, is now aimed at kids. Want to know something, at Alton Towers, it is a kids ride. Its as if in 20 years from now, Dreamworld put the entrance of Tower of Terror back in Nick Central and painted it bright colours to appeal to childern. Corkscrew at Alton Towers has that sort of feel to it. So, after waiting one train, we boarded. I've come to a very, very important conclusion after riding corkscrew at Alton Towers: Most coaster enthusists are cry babies. True, the ride isn't as smooth as AIR or Nemesis (or indeed, even its Australian namesake), but that doesn't mean the ride was unformortably rough. Maybe riding Thunderbolt has made me judge such things diferently, but I didn't get any headbanging, and even got a tiny bit of air-time on the first bunny hill. Now, on the flip side, the ride is very slow (even by Australian standards) and after the two inversions, doesn't offer much more then a tour of the supports underneath the lift hil. Its not that bad, but I'm glad I didn't have to wait more then 2 mins for it. 5/10. UG land surprised me this day. I didn't find any rides of interest to me, but I was still kind of impressed with how it was done up. It had a very 'Flinstones theme park' feel to it, which was probably what they were going for. I didn't even notice that last week, as all I could think was "40 min queue for Corkscrew? Buggerd if I'm going on that!" Well, thats all the time we have for today. Join us next week to discover the rest of the park!

Here's what I don't get: You have to pay more to spend less time in the park. You get there before 5, and stay till 9 (min 4 hours) and pay nothing. Get there at 6, and spend 3 hours in the park, and its $16.50. Anyone else think thats a bit odd?

I haven't seen one of these shows for a long time. Is the future of thrill rides still simulators?

Wet 'n' Wild used to go one step further with their late night trading: They used to sell a day pass, and a day night pass. Day/Night passes allowed people to stay in the park after 5pm. The simple day pass, only allowed people to stay in the park until 5pm. They enforced the rule by making people who had a day pass, surrender it upon entry, and pick it up while leaving. If they left the park after 5, they were asked to pay the after 5 entry fee.