pazzap

Oh come on man, I did not mean it like that. Wow it seems people here can be so cynical and automatically think the worst. I just mean it was not built for us and we paid top dollar, it was built for another park. Honest question: Would you rather Steel Taipan or something custom like Helix? If you genuinely prefer BF clones, then I'll respect your opinion. I would have preferred something like Ride to Happiness first, and Helix a close second, and BF very last out of the Mack options. The rear spike and spinning car are the saving grace, but a BF clone is a BF clone and I've ridden 2 of them (the original and Dubai). They are OK at best with one single pop of air and a leisurely feel. Yes, Dreamworld wanted something fast, they couldn't have predicted the pandemic, but that decision cost us a much, much better custom coaster. Even Ride to Happiness was cheaper than Steel Taipan LOL, and obliterates it in every way. Note, I can only go by a European review of someone I trust, obviously I haven't ridden RTH - but he's put it in his top 5 of all time and I believe him. Next year I'll find out for myself. Can't wait. Helix I can vouch for personally, it's my number 5 coaster of all time. Stronger launches would have made it number 2. BF at Europa Park is not even in my top 100. Sorry, again just my 2C.

I did mean layout, so I am glad you included that. It's not the worst Arrow coaster by a long shot, but the layout is basically 100% dead track with 2 inversions at the end. In LPS I considered it smooth. The ops on the night I went were enthusiasts and we discussed things for hours - they were so excited about the Big Dipper. There's other CRAZY things that happened that night but I won't even bother as no one will believe me, but I'll fondly remember it as one of the most fun nights and very early into my love of coasters. I appreciate your opinion and respect it. I just happen to hate the coaster.. Note, I only rode it at LPS at night and DW during the day. I haven't ridden with the new Vekoma trains, and as long as it doesn't bang my head again (which it now won't), I'll be happy to re ride it once or twice. I have absolutely no nostalgia when it comes to coasters. It's just the way I am.. EG. If I had my way, LPM would tear down the Scenic Railway whereas most enthusiasts appreciate it being a classic of a bygone era (and it's heritage trust now anyway so can't go anywhere). So I feel nothing towards Gold Coaster, other than it's a bad ride. That's how I judge coasters, purely on whether I enjoy them. If I had a choice, I would ride Buzzsaw over GC, and that's my current opinion. I'm fully vaxxed, so I am hoping I can go OS soon, and if OS travel is allowed by next US/EU summer, I'll see if my opinion changes then when I hit up Magic Springs. Maybe I am remembering it too fondly, and maybe cause it was the most thrilling coaster we had at the time I rode it. It's possible., I mean Rivals wasn't even built yet. If OS travel is not allowed next year, then it will have to be 2023, but I'll be past 50, and I really want to do a large 20 year anniversary trip for my 50th. (my largest trip ever was in 2002 with 90 days total - trips since have been shorter, then I had back damage and have been taking it easy for a while now). More unpopular opinion - Had Movie world invested in the superb SLC updated trains from Vekoma themselves, I'd place AA as a top 3 Aussie coaster. I love the layout, intensity and pacing. If you've ridden one of the SLC's with these trains I am sure you would agree. I can not believe they are closing it, and it was never unpopular anyway. Another one bites the dust. The day I went it was up and reliable. What do you want me to say? Also, why does it matter for people to keep telling me "and others here would agree". Why on Earth would I care what others at a forum prefer? My opinion is my opinion. I'd bulldoze GC in a heartbeat. I despise it. Just accept it, or don't. I need a coaster to be thrilling. I won't be conforming cause of what others think. I've done enough coasters to know what I like. My opinions are generally unpopular and I've always been accustomed to that. For example, my favourite B&M hyper is Apollo's Chariot, and only in the very back row. In the front I don't even rate it but I only care about the fun I personally had in the back row, on a dead day with over 30 rides including a triple cycle to close the day. It doesn't make top 100 for most people. But because of the pre drop, which B&M doesn't do any more, it makes the first main drop leave my tummy at the top and me completely out of my seat. Nitro, Intimidator, Diamondback don't have the same effect on the first drop. That is why I also love Raging Bull (back seat again only) more than all the others (2nd place for me). My favourite sensations are, in order 1) dropping and leaving guts at top, hopefully combined with airtime 2)Zero G/Barrel Rolls 3) Stalls 4) Dive loops. I can take or leave everything else. It's just me. As far as the wild mouse, I have ridden them ALL in OZ, and again, I stand by my opinion that nothing came close to the mine ride. I am 6ft 4 and the head choppers were insane. It was so uniquely themed, it was like a terrain mouse, built into the slope of the artificial mountain. Mad Mouse at Melb show was fun. LPS Mouse is fun BUT the last time I rode that was the same night as big dipper, and from recent POVs it seems they trim it now. Location is fantastic though. Blackpool Mouse would be tied with Mine Ride as number one for me, but that is now gone as well. Out of the current mice? Dark Knight, Scooby and LPS, of course. IMO. Now there's a ride I hope they keep forever, the wild mouse LPS.

Yes. Classic or not, GC is simply the worst Arrow looper layout ever made, ever. Its ONLY saving grace was its location when it was built. It's a terrible, terrible coaster and I stand by my words. Why is BS a one trick pony? You get insane hangtime on the lift, the lift is terrifying till you clear it, especially after what happened at Magic Springs, and then you get an awesome shuttle section that leaves your guts at the top. Not to mention the roll at the top. I am seeing three tricks here - upside down lift hill, heartline roll and full speed shuttle section. I'd happily ride it many times in a day and get thrilled every time. BS is the only coaster I have ever been scared on, EVER, and that's because of the lift hill situation. I like being scared, it's a nice addition to being thrilled. Can you please tell me what safety issues it has had that make it unique in that department vs other coasters, same with maintenance? By the way, Buzzsaw is technically full circuit, it goes around the original circuit completely after a lift hill. You are thinking of launched shuttle coasters that don't have joined track at both ends. Buzzsaw is not unsafe. What happened at Magic Springs was a freak, and one of only 5 times in the world a coaster has gotten stuck upside down. In all of documented history. The fact that it DID happen though is what makes it scary. To me anyway. My then BF and I both enjoyed it equally, many times during our visit. If I had been allowed to leave my state and DW was open at the time, I'd have gone for a final marathon of 50 rides if I could have gotten them in in a day before it closed for good. PS you conveniently missed out where I said the ride could be improved if not removed, for example, profiling the ridiculous near horizontal drop (J/K but it's bad), to actually be steep and could then deliver airtime, as well as drastically improving the ride overall. Some of the middle dead track area could be changed around also. PPS I put my money where my mouth is - Magic Springs got added to my park destinations for my marathon trip next year, after Buzzsaw was announced as closing. I would like to enjoy a skyloop again on my trip.

The spinning car will be mental, especially if Mack are allowing it to spin up the rear spike.. spinning airtime! I hope they don't neuter the spinning too much with the magnets. I think for a park reject, DW paid way too much for this (unless they are wrong, Wikipedia claim 32,000,000 USD)!, and for that insane money I would have much preferred a custom looper with much better drops and airtime, but hey, we are in OZ, and I'll take what I can get. I will be there day one to ride it.

I am probably the only one here that is absolutely gutted Buzzsaw has closed.. The only Maurer Skyloop in the Southern Hemisphere and one of very few in the world, I find them absolutely terrifying in the best way possible, and I love the final back and forth shuttle run in the very back seat.. I don't understand the hate.. At 403 coasters, I have ridden a ton of bad ones (the worst ever in my lifetime being the long defunct Hercules at Dorney Park), and this rates no where near the worst. With Steel Taipan close by, and a new paint job (maybe jet black track and orange supports to flip the ST theme)?, and a rename, this could have finally gained some popularity, say to ride before or after ST. Dreamworld had the best Wild Mouse on the planet when it was open, and it's gone. They had one of only 2 Intamin Reverse Freefall Coasters on the planet, and it's gone. They had a very unique and fun flat ride, and it's gone. They keep killing off major rides but to lose TWO major coasters in a few years is insanity to me. I mean the park has literally gone from 9 "big thrills" to 6 LOL (and I never counted Mick Doohan as a thrill ride of any kind anyway, so 5). The sale price they are asking is around 1/10th of what they paid for Buzzsaw.. and apparently there are tons of spare parts included.. So WHY not at least TRY to revamp it and just give it one more shot now that ST will draw more attention to it? Would it hurt them financially that much? More than losing 6.2 million AUD on the resale? I guess maybe it will, otherwise they would? I honestly "feel" like buying it at that price and installing it on a plot of land in the country. Of course I won't, cause it would eat almost my entire savings and I could not maintain it and could never make money off it, but the thought seriously did cross my mind momentarily. So Dreamworld has now gone to a 4 coaster park, with guess what, ONE good one! (when it opens). If they really want to remove coasters so much, kill off that horrible Arrow Looper or reprofile it at least to make it a good coaster, starting with a much steeper first drop. Something. Or have RMC do their first steel to steel conversion. (The reason I hate the now named Gold Coaster is because it was specially designed and even lightly themed for an exact location at LPS, and it's a ridiculous coaster where it is now - at least with the interaction it was almost fun at LPS, but I digress) Buzzsaw, no matter what you think of it, was still a major ride at a park that has lost too many.. I'd be much more ok with it if they had a replacement planned, but they don't. My 2C. Anyway, RIP Buzzsaw, and I hope Luna Park Melbourne buys you. Truly. Or Aussie World. Or heck, even movie world to replace AA (but truthfully, I want a mega lite inverting coaster there or a storm chaser style RMC).

From cleveland? Well I guess so.. I do have friends in San Antonio and also another couple close by... I guess I could fly there from CLE and then maybe even take the houston/Sydney route home. Food for thought. I've never done an organised coaster tour group.. i've always spent months planning my own, always starting in late May through end June.. I've only ever missed a couple I wanted to ride that way and lines were bearable in all cases, except SFMM, but i'd now probably get the paid flash pass thingie, I never want to wait that long for X again LOL. Anyway point being, would be nice for someone else to do all the work for a change.. Will we have any ERT? I would never go with TPR as I think i'd end up head butting Alvey, so no biggie if no ERT but would be good if OP is contacting parks to see if any can be arranged. Back to SFFT though, there are a couple of completely pointless parks in the tour where I am sure if a poll was made to lose them and add SFFT, SFFT would win. OP seems a bit resistant to interested user input? We'll see. Hmm I do like the second tour a lot more.. still also sad neither has BGW which is another must.. Apollo's chariot in the back is one of the most underrated B&M experiences ever. I'd honestly add that and SFGA for el toro which is mind blowing and lose some others.. I'd design the first one totally different (and yes, I do understand he wants it to flow into the second).. I've done every park from Orlando up on the I-95 with a slight deviation for carowinds, and trust me, BGW and SFGA are musts. For me it's just not long enough to only do the second tour, which is why I would have liked to do both, but the first one is just not great.. Even wild adventures.. not needed.. magic springs.. not needed... Beach, not needed... Anyway that's my input.. PS believe it or not the new texas giant is not all that great..It's certainly better than what was there but it's kinda..meh.. which you'll see for yourselves.. However I've not ridden Steel vengeance so can't say for sure but by POV, steel vengeance literally looks twice as good. It looks amazing, actually, especially in the back seat. PPS Maybe in my case I need to design my own first half and meet with you guys in Texas..That could work. I'll keep en eye out for more info, solid pricing etc...

very interested but no SFFT is too much of a loss for me, sorry.. Being in the US and not riding WW and Iron Rattler is something I just can't accept. Just being honest about it.

I am a bit disappointed with the back seat thing because there is currently no way to get the *maximum* first drop "pull down" airtime on the stengel dive when facing forward. Even just one row makes a difference, the airtime will be slightly lessened. I would have liked it all facing forwards and for a limited special event now and then they could have it ALL backwards for a week or so. Something like that. The good thing is with only one row, if it's not too popular they can reverse it easily

Mako was a huge disappointment to me, i far prefer apollo's which is 2 decades it's junior. Taron was ok, it was sort of exciting but i just get bored with twisters, including woodies. I rode gci roar first year and i renamed it yawn (to quote another example). Taron has an exciting launch and actually does have some air in front seat, and look, it's a bit of rush, but to *me*, not actually "thrilling". Cool? any need to personally insult me? No i'm not "nuts", i just have my own coaster preferences like everyone does. I bet you there will be no airtime in the back seat on the second hill. That will be front airtime only. Back airtime will only exist coming out of inv loop and stengel drop. PS el toro in the very very back seat is my kind of coaster.. I spent an entire day with premium flash pas riding just that, definitely over 50 times. But it gives you an idea of what I like. Ghost rider reconditioned is back to it's 2001 glory and a night ride in the very back seat is now in my top 10 of all time again. I also love relentless inversions and hang time..

I agree Xcellerator is a nothing after drop, but the height and overall top speed give it the edge for me. The fact that it has lap bars mean it will always win for me in any case. Just like i far prefer TDR to Kingda for that same reason (and kingda airtime hill has zero airtime anyway so i don't know why it's there). the sheer height of those and again INSANE speed give them the edge for me even though they are one trick wonder. But what exactly does superman do after the launch and first airtime hill anyway.?. Maybe I am missing something lol? A couple twists and turns and a tunnel and tiniest bit of air with truly horrible OTSRs. I have so many pics imaginable on that coaster and i look half asleep in every single one LOL, even the photo lady laughed cause she could tell it was genuine. I really enjoyed kanonen as an example of a short but sweet intense launch coaster from the start to finish. So sad it's gone. PS most exciting mack coaster in a long time to me is the launched looping spinner coming to SDC. I am thinking of another trip next year just to visit SDC to ride it, and then to pop down to fiesta texas for wonder woman. I agree with you overall and i respect your opinion, and i am very impressed that no one lashed out at me and have replied maturely and with solid viewpoints! I was honestly worried i'd get hammered for my opinion re DC rivals. Remember i could be completely wrong and it's amazing! I'll be there opening day with my bestie. Now, with Millennium force, i rode it opening year.. me and my bestie got off at it at the end, looked at each other totally underwhelmed, and both said, "mediocre force". So we are not that different are we after all! The reason i love helix is because of the masterful pacing. I heard people complain about the slow launches but it wasn't about that to me. The launches in helix are there to facilitate the precise speed the coaster needs and nothing more, IMO. To me it's the best paced coaster bar none, a multi looper with non stop action from the moment you leave the station to the moment you arrive.. and even has real airtime! What a wonderful wonderful coaster.. 7 inversions with lap bars will always get praise from me in any case. Again, I just can't rave about it's pacing enough and it's in my top 3 best coasters (steel) of all time. You know, i could be wrong. Rivals might be amazing. I just wish it had 1 or 2 more big hills, that's all. It has exactly 1 big airtime hill, and in a hyper, that just doesn't make sense to me at all. Surely my viewpoint could be understood at the very least, even if not agreed with?

For some reason, all ways to edit my post seem to have disappeared. I just wanted to be fair and clarify a couple of things. This is all personal opinion.. for example, i understand many people love I305 but that wasn't my sort of thing either as it was more about speed and turns. But i'd still ride it if that's all that was on offer.. I genuinely apologise if my post upset anyone, it was merely an opinion on what I have seen. I've now ridden just under 800 coasters so have tended to form my own firm styles of coaster i love and don't love by now. PS I also just want to explain why i feel we get shunted. To me, besides a couple of anomaly's like rita queen of speed, we also got the weakest intamin launched of the lot, that is further ruined by OTSR's. We have the worst multilooper with HWSW (yet when it was at luna park and new, it was a great ride at night, i remember that fondly).. We even get the slowest mack water coaster with the heavy brakes before the final drop (well at least it did that when i rode it). None of the other ones i have ridden do this! It's like nothing to me, in oz, seems to run at it's full potential. Tower of terror "feels" only 3/4 of what superman does at SFMM, and so on. I wouldn't have chosen mack for our hyper, simple as that, and that's probably a big part of it for me too. I would have chosen intamin, B&M, or RMC for an 150 ft mini hyper with 3 inversions. That's my personal preference and again i did not mean to be a debbie downer, but I was just so excited we were finally getting a hyper, i think that almost anything would have disappointed me. Hey I have different tastes to most people.. phoenix is widely recognised as one of the best woodies, and i hated it, literally. I'd never go out of my way to go to knoebels again. Just an example. We are all different. huh? S:E is terrible, another nothing coaster except launch and first bit of air. Anyway, the worst hyper coaster i have ever ridden in my life is goliath/titan, followed closely by desperado, then the big one, so this will be far from the worst. That's not what I meant. I am sure it will be fun. Just not my first choice.

um, didn't we just get a trim too? and it's still early days of testing. B&M hypers are the bomb. Raging bull is the most neutered one with trims and just awful, but apollo's, nitro, shambhala and more are all awesome. Literally out of your seat if you are in the back for most of the ride. Being low to the ground and twists and turns is exactly why i don't like it. I wanted drops. Flash's loop is about hang time with the lapbar, like full throttle's. That's actually a very exciting feeling IMO. Not every loop has to be about high G's.. and not to forget flash is the world's largest loop. This only qualifies as a hyper because of the first drop, it has nothing in common with most hypers after that.. i'd rather have had the 100ft lightning run over this any day. i don't care that it has trims, i care that it's about turns when we didn't need a hypercoaster to do that. I wanted drops and airtime hills.

I wish Mark could clarify whether we are getting a coster or not.. Most reports just mentioned rides, and i had seen one report that said a roller coaster. Then i saw the accomodation planned and after thinking 50 million was plenty for one killer coaster, a couple great flats and refurb, i realised it was very unlikely. All that money is going to go to the hotel. In any case, if we do get a small coaster i would love it to be something australia doesn't have. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Am i allowed to give my opinion in this topic about this coaster? I was already underwhelmed from the animated POV but quietly kept myself excited. From what i have seen, it's no flash. No comparison. The first drop, airtime hill and inverted loop are it for this coaster, then it's a nothing coaster as far as i am concerned. Definitely the weakest of all of mack's bigger coasters. For some reason we seem to get the worst of everything in OZ.. we get the worst el loco of the lot cause it's loaded with trims, no excitement or adrenaline at all, and we get an ok and good for oz, but weakest hyper of the lot. We keep getting shunted. This was in no way about budget as that's an expensive coaster, it's simply not a great design IMO. This will all be mostly about front seat airtime and maybe the very back seat for the first drop and that's it.. If we weren't going to get a lot of hills and drops, i would have at least liked to see inversions. We still need to go OS to get really good hypers and multi loopers, we have no choice. Too bad. At this stage i would have much preferred an RMC, by far. My expectations were probably too high for this, after helix and flash. I'll reserve absolute final judgement till ride day. PS perhaps one day dreamworld will build an intamin hyper like new england ROS to beat this. So for the inspiration to get other parks to compete, it's still worth having. And of course i'll still be riding it 100+ times, regardless.It's just not my kind of hyper, layout wise.

Any coaster ideas? If one thing is needed in vic, it;s a decent coaster. Congrats.. i am glad we are getting something believe m

demolish and put a great hyper/multilooper as the centrepiece of gold rush, to replace both eureka and TRR

i think it's a good idea.. the next row will still have the typical back seat airtime on drops, and the very back reverse seat should be a crazy experience on that first drop.. I'm quite happy with this..

what seat were you in?

Desperado is equally bad to the big apple coaster (and i rode it when it was called manhattan express! A long time ago). There are no redeeming qualities whatsoever.. They both cause long lasting back ache and head ache and are hazardous to your health.. I'm all for riding something once to say i've done it, but in this case, those two are so bad, i would rather have skipped them. If one's idea of fun is literally getting beaten up, then sure, you'll like them. The best roller coaster that was ever in Vegas is the one that no longer exists - speed the ride. Canyon blaster and the el loco are fine and worth a ride if you happen to be there.. but not worth going TO vegas to ride.. there are so many other parks and rides in the US worthy of your time first. All this is just IMO of course oh and PS.. stratosphere is fun enough and worth doing the insanity and big shot.. but vegas does not have any "first class" coasters whatsoever.

geez make an official announcement already movie world.. top american parks would have done so by now.. before ANY groundwork even began!

ah I haven't seen that comment from Mark. Well since there is one travelling the show circuit, and the new heights comment, and seeing him say that it was thrilling but not too scary, I myself now am certain that's exactly what it is. Bummer. Oh well it's a good family attraction as he said. PS to the person above that commented after i mentioned the woodie, that wasn't a second hand ride i pointed to that was 3.5 million USD, but i will try find the total installed cost. I might even email fun spot.

Guys has anyone thought of the possibility of something like this? https://rcdb.com/10348.htm I mean that's within budget, and what an outstanding family thrill attraction that would make for australia, as well as being australia's only decent woodie (besides the mice i guess, but scenic railway is painful and not fun). Have we totally written off the possibility of a mini woodie here?

darn it.. i was planning to visit adventure world instead of the gold coast at all this year.. now that dw is closed. I really love drop rides.. is there any chance it will be running by the end of the month? It is starting to sound like you should sell this ride and replace it with a more reliable model. I have never been to AW let alone Western Australia, and I am very much looking forward to the Abyss at least. Also, does your power surge have any maximum height restrictions? I am 1.93 metres and for some reason that no one has been able to answer, i can't ride the local melbourne luna park one as they have a 1.9m maximum. I have searched as much information i can find world wide on power surges, and i can't find any others with a maximum height limit and luna park themselves can't tell me the reason. It is really confusing but I just want to be certain I can ride everything there if I am going to go to this expense. Cheers!

Right. To incorporate a water coaster's lift hill stopping safely into a tragic story like this, is actually pretty low of the media. This is a serious accident where things obviously did NOT work as they should be, and it resulted in really horrible tragedy. If they want to report similar incidents they should report the american rapids ride overturning incident, not a coaster train getting stuck on a lift hill. In fact, i wish just one time, just once, media would add to such reports about storm, that all safety mechanisms functioned as normal, and it is not unusual for a rollercoaster lift hill to get stuck and it absolutely does not pose any danger. But they sensationalise it. No wonder trust in the mainstream media is at an all time low. Anything for a story. To those families affected by this tragedy: May your loved ones rest in peace, and all my thoughts and prayers are with you to recover as best as you possibly can. On dreamworld, i think, remove the rapids ride and eureka and just do something else there. Perilous plunge never really recovered at knotts after the death and it was removed. Same will happen here. I think if there are no reminders of it, people will eventually move on and trust in the park will be fine. Just having eureka and rapids closed permanently is like displaying lack of confidence in an entire section of the park. Just my 2c.

If that happens, and it's anything like helix at liseberg, then Australia really WILL finally have an *incredible* coaster. I do indeed hope it's mack, i LIKE that rumour!!