TBoy

Nine reporting that 13 people have been hurt, 6 have been taken to hospital and 4 people are dead.

How sad. Was it a helicopter tour that crashed into another one? If so, even sadder. Either way, really sad that people thought they would go on a nice view of the beach via helicopter, not knowing it would be their last moments of life. Hopefully they are OK.

The only new way to get new attractions is to get rid of some. LPS had to get rid of 8 attractions to fit in the new ones in 2021. If LPM wanted to get rid of some to make a similar move to LPS, then they would basically have to get rid of: Pharoh's Curse Enterprise Twin Dragon The Power Surge Moon Balloons Happy Swing Ghost Train Spider Arabian Merry

Looks like they are going to: Movie World Aussie World Wet N'Wild Dreamworld Sea World Big Banana Luna Park Sydney Luna Park Melbourne Gumbuya World Adventure World White Water World, Raging Waters, Jamberoo Action Park, Magic Mountain, Funfields and Adventure Park not mentioned.

If you get to go to Melbourne one day you should try to get to both of them if you can. Maybe try to get to Adventure/Luna Park but if you could only pick two I would pick Gumbuya and Funfields.

I agree, I would say Funfields has the best water slides while Gumbuya has the best land rides and animals. Unfortunately for Adventure Park they are alright but are the worst compared to the other two. Another good thing about Funfield's waterslides is that they have multiple towers while all of Gumbuya's slides share the same tower. I hope the latter will expand soon to have more waterslides (hopefully ProSlide ones). Either way, it is a close battle between Funfields and Gumbuya as Victoria's best theme park.

Here is my in-depth version: Queensland Dreamworld - Kenny and Belinda's Dreamland to open on March 31st, while the Dreamworld Flier to open in June and the Ocean Parade expansion done in December. Movie World - New Kids Ride opens in April, and construction starts on the new WOO area. Wet N Wild - Surfrider is moved to Sea World. White Water World - Nothing. Sea World - Surfrider is moved to Sea World, with Vikings Revenge demolished. Aussie World - Nothing. New South Wales Big Banana - Alpine coaster built and open in December 2023. Raging Waters - Nothing. Jamberoo - Nothing. Luna Park - Nothing. Magic Mountain - Nothing. Victoria Luna Park - Nothing. Adventure Park - Maybe a wave pool built. Gumbuya World - Nothing. Funfields - Nothing. Western Australia Adventure World - Nothing.

TBH I feel like Kenny and Belinda's Dreamland will be done before Easter. IIRC Kids World to Dreamworks was done in the span of two months, closing on Feb 1 and reopening on March 31. Most of the rides seem to close on 30 Jan so I feel like they will be done in March.

If Surfrider is moved to Sea World, I wonder if we will see a refurb or the same branding? Either way, we will see 2 coasters next year, Big Red Boat at Dreamworld and the new alpine coaster at Big Banana. I think apart from Surfrider maybe being moved, I doubt we will see anything new from VRTP. Right now, we are going through a massive coaster boom in Australia. 2021-2024 will see around 14 coasters open (if you count the boomerang at MW as two and Project Zero as a new coaster) compared to 19 existing ones. We will see more coasters in 2021-2024 (14) compared to 2005-2020 (13). Am glad to be an enthusiast in this boom peroid.

Dreamworld and Sea World has one? (although the latter's is currently closed)

Great news. Glad to see it finally back in operation.

I'm thinking the reason why JR only now has one train is so it is safer, as the ride only goes for around 30 seconds. If it had 2 trains they might collide with each other so it is less of a risk now. Not sure about the long dispatch times but when I was at Sea World in early-August there was only one train.

Apparently, Leviathan at Sea World has a 3hr 20min wait time according to this site: Sea World Australia | Wait Times (queue-park.com)

Wild West Falls back up, Green Lantern back down again with Doomsday Destroyer. GL and DD are so unreliable that they are down half the time. I feel like they could see the fate of Buzzsaw where it is sold to another park (AP or FF would like them, especially GL)

Something else interesting to note is that on the 30th/31st of January, the park will only be open 10:30am-4pm. Something has to be going on.

I like it could come to these parks: Magic Mountain - seems like a good fit for the park Jamberoo - Great to fit in with the toboggan ride Funfields - Same as Jamberoo Adventure Park - Would be a great ride that would fit in with the park Adventure World - Kinda stuck on this, it might be too small for them LPS/LPM wouldn't be able to fit one and Gumbuya seem to invest in more traditional rides so I don't think they would want it. Yes that seems good, I don't think 34 cars would be a good idea as I said people will get hurt easily, maybe similar to the toboggan like you said? Anyway its 4:30am AEDT time to go to sleep.

The article says 34 cars maximum - personally I still don't think it is enough space if one person wants to go slow while the person behind them wants to go fast with no brakes.

Big Banana lodges plan for new rollercoaster at Coffs Harbour The ride will be almost a kilometre-long, with as many as 50 thrillseekers travelling per run. Here’s what you need to know about the proposed super attraction. Chris Knight 2 min read December 26, 2022 - 9:06AM Indicative image of The Big Banana's fantastic plans for a new rollercoaster. Plans to build a $3 million rollercoaster at The Big Banana theme park have been lodged with Coffs Harbour council. The proposed Alpine Coaster will operate on an 872-metre long steel track and key elements of the development application include the construction of a terminal and storage shed building, a winch system and pedestrian access ramps. The project would see the demolition of an old shed and the disused monorail track, and the removal of some vegetation. The Alpine Coaster would run a course in part adjacent to the existing toboggan ride. A development application for the new rollercoaster was lodged with City of Coffs Harbour this month, and is one part of a $50m masterplan for the largest theme park between Sydney and Queensland. Thirty-four Wiegand-Toboggans would run on the new track, with a capacity of about 50 people per run. Some 300 square metres of native vegetation would make way for the Alpine Coaster, including two turpentine trees, one pink bloodwood and one grey ironbark (all with trunk diameters of no more than 80cm). The Big Banana theme park operates from 9am to 6pm seven days per week. A report into the parking and traffic implications of the proposed Alpine Coaster has found existing carparking infrastructure is adequate. With the assistance of a local engineer and builder, The Big Banana was first opened by Californian expat and banana grower John Landi in 1964 as part of a bid to draw attention to his roadside banana stall. The new coaster would bring a final end for the old monorail track. The two trains which plied the monorail were sold by Lloyds Auctions this year for an undisclosed price after being placed on the market with no reserve. Lloyds Glenn Aylward said one buyer was a Queensland man and the other a firm in Coffs Harbour which for now remains anonymous. Plans for the cabins as outlined in the Big Banana's 20-year Masterplan. The trains had fallen into disrepair after making their last run at the theme park in 2005. As well as being memories for tens of thousands of visitors, the monorail carriages had a story or two to tell in themselves. When shiny, new and willing they cantered around the park, past the Bunyip in the lagoon, through the culture centre and up to the hilltop restaurant. But in their final year of service - perhaps annoyed that their time in the limelight was nigh - they were a source of drama. One of the carriages ploughed into the lagoon - thankfully the train was empty. Only 15 minutes earlier, the carriage had been at the station with plenty of passengers who were told to disembark when it broke down. Last year, council approved a plan for 40 new cabins, allowing for on-site accommodation at The Big Banana as part of the 20-year masterplan. The amusement park - which includes laser tag, mini golf and an ice-skating rink - will host a new music festival in the New Year. The two-day event (May 6-7) will showcase live music, local food, breweries and wineries. Personally in my opinion I think having 50 people on the track at one time is not safe and will cause injuries. If Meiders Alpine Coaster in Austria etc. had 50 people on it it would be ok as the track is 3x longer than the one at BB, however I actually think it is less IIRC. Unless people go at the exact same speed people who slow down will get injured by people not using brakes at all and some people will be idiots and do something like this:

Disappointing to see there is no fast/slow track. One could be for people who want to go slow while the other could be intense/no brakes.

TBH I feel like the only unreliable rides at Movie World are Green Lantern and Doomsday. If they were at Dreamworld they would've been long gone as I think since the TRRR incident safety procedures have gone up and a higher policy of unreliable rides, which is why some rides like Buzzsaw only lasted 10 years at the park.

Well yes most are based on Dreamworld but not all. For example the log flume is based off WWF at MW, and the carousel, kids ferris wheel and gyro swing is at multiple parks. However yes the droptower and plane ride are based off Dreamworld. Meanwhile the the slides are mostly based off White Water World, however the Tornado 60 for example kind of isn't as White Water World, Wet n Wild, Jamberoo Action Park, Raging Waters, Adventure Park and Adventure World all have a clone. Same with the Hydrocoaster and Bowl (Raging + WWW) and I was going to do the White Water West model of Aqualoop but decided to have it like The Wedgie because it was by ProSlide.

I hope this feature stays, it makes it so you don’t know if you will have one or two backward drops.

Yes that would be awesome. I would LOVE a Hopkins Rides Log Flume (the same people who made Wild West Falls at Movie World) but it needs to not be a carnival style one and be a permanent looking one with it highly detailed. With a droptower an Intamin one would be awesome, maybe around 60m? It would also give good views of the hills around it. Personally over the next 10 years I would do this: Hopkins Rides Log Flume (something similar to WWF) Intamin droptower (60m) Intamin Gyro Swing (Rebel would be sold back to fairs) Carousel Plane ride Kids Ferris wheel (like Play School wing) ProSlide Tornado 60 ProSlide HydroMagnetic Rocket ProSlide Super Loop ProSlide Behemoth Bowl 60 The droptower/carousel/plane ride would be near the front of the park, the Gyro Swing would be where Rebel is, and the Kids Ferris wheel would be next to TNT/Gerry's Roadhouse. Meanwhile the waterslides would be next to the wave pool (all on one tower) but I am not sure where the log flume would go. Also the parking spaces would be extended, as well as the intersection made safer. What do you think?

Yes that seems more realistic, the brakes must have not been pulled out in-time, making the car go backward again,

Or maybe that could be the normal cycle? @Noll_57 did Project Zero have two backward drops or was it just like Buzzsaw?