jake_hunt

I wasn't sure which thread to post this in, so forgive me if I'm out of place here. And I know it's been open a couple of weeks, and I'm late on this, but anyone who has ridden this beast will understand my overwhelming desire to vent on how damn good this coaster is. I live 6 hours from the Gold Coast, but as soon as I had a break in work and other commitments, I left in the early hours of yesterday morning (taking advantage of daylight savings) to get to Movie World at opening. And the minute I took the Pacific Highway exit, I wondered what I had gotten myself into. This thing towers over the park, it's intimidating, and incredibly photogenic. But if I thought I was wetting my pants driving past it, I had another thing coming when the train exited the station for the first time, and I was staring at the massive stairway to heaven that is the chain lift. In a mixture of nerves and excitement for my first hypercoaster, I couldn't sit still in my seat, much to the amusement of the young lady next to me. The chain lift is so fast and steep, you barely have time to gather your thoughts and pull yourself together before that awesome Joker face is looming right over you. And boy, is it a long way to look down from the front rows. But immediately after the chain let go of the train, all fears and regrets were immediately washed away. That first drop is the single greatest element I have ever experienced on a roller coaster (no exaggeration, although I'm fairly inexperienced to be fair). The air-time is on a level that we have not so much as gotten close to in Australia. And it's not just the first drop. The air-time hill blasts you out of your seat, before that incredible non-inverted loop, which is so fast and chaotic that you barely have time to think about it. Your backside bounces like a ping-pong ball on and off the seat as you're ejected with such force and intensity, over and over. I agree with people that the Stengel dive is pretty forceless, but by that time I was having the time of my life, so who cares? The turn-around is another amazing pop of speedy air-time, and you pick up an awesome amount of speed diving around the bend. The twists and turns that follow, as well as the helix, were so much more forceful and fast than I expected - not to mention those bunny hills, which really pull the whole thing together with a few more incredible blasts of ejector air-time before the brake run. By the end, I was so high on what had just occurred - it was like all my Christmases had come at once... And then I rode it backwards. MY GOD. The first drop backwards is perhaps the most intense thing I have ever done - and I've been skydiving. Being dragged over the rise suddenly, and ejecting into the harness, before plummeting straight down as you stare back up at that looming Joker face... Incredible. I was speechless at the end, which gave the ride operators a laugh. The entire coaster is made so much better by going backwards. The elements catch you by surprise, which seems to at least double their force. Not to mention being at the rear of the train, meaning you're pulled with such force and intensity through the air-time moments, especially the non-inverted loop. The seats are comfortable enough that, even though you get thrown around because you can't prepare yourself, it's still a smooth ride that isn't uncomfortable in the slightest. I ended up spending $30 on backwards seats throughout the day. And the staff? The staff do an incredible job. They were running through cycles at express pace, even when the line was backed up almost to the test seat. And the interactions with the operating staff when sitting in the backwards seats were enough to bring a big grin to my face every time. They know they have a world-class attraction on their hands, and they seem to enjoy that fact. Movie World, you've knocked it out of the park. Heck, we could build another park around the park and you'd knock it out of that one. DC Rivals is the greatest thing ever to happen to Australian theme parks, and if you haven't treated yourself to a ride yet, you're in for a treat. Get in line, do it forwards, and then have a blue note ready to do the only thing that could possibly be better than that - BACKWARDS. I wish there was a sixth star so I could give this more than just five, because by God it deserves it.

Looks pretty decent... Should be a fascinating display, I'd definitely spend some time there on my next visit. Was interested to see a mirror maze in those plans? Seems interesting... I think I would probably get a little freaked out by a mirror maze with jellyfish (or illusions of jellyfish) all around me...

How will this in any way affect loading time, though? Sure, the queue for the backwards seats will probably take a while, affecting those in that queue. But those are the people who actively chose to wait longer to ride the thing backwards. I don't imagine it takes any longer than usual to buckle people into a backwards-facing seat, so if you don't ride it backwards, that "gimmick" as you call it won't affect you. A gimmick, though? It's a unique aspect. As people have said, every ride that VRTP build goes above and beyond to make sure it is distinguishable from others around the world, and not just a basic clone of every other ride of its type. The added helix to an SLC, the elevator lift and extensive theming on a Wild Mouse, the four-abreast seating on an El Toro... And now one backwards row on a hyper. It will not affect capacity, the only thing it will affect is there will be one line of people who have to wait longer to ride it backwards. By the sounds of things, the people complaining won't ride it backwards, and therefore it DOESN'T AFFECT YOU. And besides, it adds a whole new ride experience to the same coaster. I'm keen to go and ride forwards for my first ever hyper. But then, once I've ridden it a few times and already had the experience, I have the option to do it backwards. Different experience, different thrills. Two for one. Why are people complaining? Who gives a sh*t if it's gimmicky - it's clever, it's unique, it's a world-first and it's going to draw crowds and be incredible.

@AlexB when I brought up cost, I also meant labour. Obviously, Movie World would be able to afford the lights themselves - they are spending over $30 million on this already. What I meant was that at this point, the cost and effort of basically going over the whole track again to install 1.4km of lights on the track is probably not worth it. As you pointed out though, it would have been much easier and more feasible had they installed the lights on the track segments in advance.

Imagine the cost of that for 1.4km of track though...

I rode GL back in January (3 times in the day) and had audio the first time, but not the second or third. I agree, it really changes the experience, and I certainly hope they can get it functioning as it should be before I visit again. I really question the commitment to the theming and immersiveness of some of the GC's rides sometimes. Why bother with features if they're never in operation? I understand sometimes things need maintenance or a little bit of work, but why do they add things such as mist if it's only going to be removed or turned off later? Similar to BT's fire at the ending - if you can't maintain the full effect, at least replace it (although the replacement in that case was utter sh*te) - it just ruins the experience if there's a theming-shaped hole where something should be.

Superman Escape, maybe some extensive maintenance, but not a full-on refurb. The theme and ride are perfect as they are, provided everything is kept in working order. Tower of Terror was refurbished only 7 years ago, so I can't see it becoming "Tower of Terror 3" anytime soon, and I would question the investment even to refurbish the existing ride extensively. Once again, maybe some good maintenance, not a refurb. And I have no idea why Jet Rescue came to your mind. My suggestions would be that refurbishments work best for older rides that are still popular and in good working order. For example, SDSC, WWF and HWSW were all ageing and showing their experience, but were still relatively popular in terms of their place at their respective parks. I wouldn't be surprised to see RHLR get some decent work done before it reopens (although the investment might be a big one). Giant Drop could do with some work on the queue area, as it seems dodgy and boring. Other than that, I really don't see much of a need for any of the rides on the GC to be fully "refurbished" as such. I think the focus should be on maintenance and new rides, not rejuvenating old ones every few years. They can last quite some time without really needing that kind of work (TOT1 lasted 13 years, for example).

I see what people mean about the copying MW thing, and the staffing issue definitely throws a spanner in the works there. But there's no reason a parade couldn't work at Dreamworld. They have enough licensed characters, mascots and themes to justify a large show or parade as a "coming together" of all the aspects of the park. Maybe, as @Glubbo very sarcastically and nostalgically suggested, a show would be better-suited than a parade. But, especially since Dreamworld really wants to compare itself to Disneyland for some reason, there's no reason a parade wouldn't be an idea to work towards in the future.

My two cents on the issue is that we need to remember Ardent is a company who provides income for people and families. While I'm sure they have the public's interests and demands at heart, if Dreamworld is losing them money, or not making a justifiable profit, their hand may be forced, and the park may have no future. We can only hope that Deborah Thomas' words have some element of truth, and that reinvestment in the park might put it back in a healthy financial position. Or, we could hope that they sell the park to someone with an interest in maintaining and investing in it. I can see both sides of the story, and while I hope Dreamworld can stay on its feet and improve greatly over the next few years, you have to acknowledge that the financial aspect of the park would be the weakest it has been in a long time, given recent events. Here's hoping.

My advice: ditch one of the parks. Both of them are big enough to justify even more than one day. Trying Disneyland in one day is ill-advised, but trying Magic Mountain in a few hours is just ludicrous, and not worth the ticket price. Ditch one of them and use the time to explore more of the other.

It suits Sea World better, but I think it would be a bit of a waste of effort to move it to Sea World now. The ride is old enough that a new location probably isn't going to reintroduce a lot of interest (some, probably not a lot). Plus, Sea World obviously has plans for at least one new ride in the next 2 years or so, and I would certainly hope that they have plans for more. I think the key to boosting Sea World at this point is new things. New exhibits, new rides, new attractions. It's starting to get a bit empty, so they need something to boost that image a little, and get their name out in the advertising sphere. I'm not sure what the costs involved with moving a ride from park to park would be like, but I'm sure it's not an investment that should be taken lightly. That is money that VRTP could be using for new and exciting things at Sea World. I agree with the posts above, my suspicion is just seasonal closure, probably also taken as an opportunity for extensive maintenance.

It's an interesting idea, and it certainly suits the way Dreamworld is laid out and operates as a park. It would be interesting to see how they would approach the idea if it did go ahead. I'd certainly like to see them theme the parade as well - like Disneyland does. They have new parades based on seasons, upcoming holidays and events, and newly-released Disney movies. That adds a bit of variety to the same simple idea, and almost guarantees (unless you visit compulsively often) that you'll see something a little bit different every time you visit. I like the idea of a variety of "floats" or "displays" representing the different areas of Dreamworld. In the past, Dreamworld's shows and characters have been a highlight that sets the park apart from most of the others on the Gold Coast (with the exception of Movie World). Overall, good idea. I'd like to see how Dreamworld approach it. For now though, I think they need some re-invigoration around the several areas of the park (particularly Gold Rush) before they go back to advertising themselves around the "many worlds in one" sort of idea.

I'm not fussed on the loop/non-inverting thing, but I do hope it has 1 or 2 inversions. I know that inversions aren't everything, but I feel like a coaster this big and this fast could have some really awesome inversions to boast.

In SE's final dialogue before the launch, it seems to launch early before the "Superman fast" line about 50% of the time. Have experienced the same BWSS audio glitch before. Also regular effects issues on SDSC and WWF obviously. In terms of awesome ride announcers, there was a guy on the BuzzSaw who was amazingly funny. When telling us to remove loose items, he went for a solid minute or two of ridiculous stuff like, "If you are pushing a wheelbarrow, you cannot take it on the ride," and "If you are carrying a fruit basket, it must be placed in the boxes provided." He had a full monologue, and it varied for the rides before and after me. He really changed the whole mood, it was great.

Green Lantern track started appearing in the car park in early September 2011, but the announcement was not made until Sep 17. However, there were clues and teasers before that, so I'd imagine we would at least be getting a teaser or something.