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Yeah the fastpass system in use at Disney is great. The only think we lined up for when we were there was Splash Mountain (unfortunately at 70mins) but other than that next to no wait at all with fastpass... Even 75 wasn't bad on a day where SM got up to 180!! Its also clever how they manage your alocation on the passes and how the two lines are merged at the ride.

Sounds like you had a great day! I have to give you credit, I was pretty proud of myself for hitting disney all in a day but you managed to do mosty of BOTH parks, congrats! (I did however wind up there on the last day of spring break :-) ) I'm glad to hear you say that about Jungle Cuise, I think you might have had the same guy we did...for something I went on just because it had no line it turned into a terrific ride. Did you guy go for a cheesy disco moment as his sang the tune to The Hustle by any chance?? Indy (temple of the 4 hour line) I agree is amazing. Sadly I don't think we'll ever see a $100mil attraction down under. Best gem I found on this was the single rider que...NO WAIT I agree with Honey I Shrunk the Audience however the best bit is when you drop and you realise the whole theatre is 1 huge motion base...2nd only the the 'drop' on backdraft. You said it all about grisley and cal scremin. Best thing is the clever station design...awsome capacity.

Wow Richard as someone who did so also I can't sypathise with you more... It was just soo painful to sit through those things doing what I do :-) However if you see this show at DCA I'm sure you'll see what I'm talking about!

Just to clarify I wasn't specificaly replying to you Richard, just yours happend to be the post before mine, no attack or anything :-) I wouldn't say the number of attractions is low, perhaps the RIDE count could be considered low but there are definately a lot of attractions there. I admit I thought it quite low on the count and pretty poor before I actualy went there, but the actual park changed my mind a lot. Also I think you'd agree that if you looking for pure thrills then Disney isn't for you. Their parks a something different with some thrills thrown in but not the only piece of the pie. Just look at Disney Land, you can't really get a better 'theme' park than that and its certainly no thrill land. DCA has got a 'full package' IMO, I don't think its really intended solely as thrill park. My take on it was that it is just something with more variety than its heavily Disney themed neighbour, where as IOA is a ride park... IMO the layout of the park is not so much as incomplete but just well laid out as to alow for much future expansion and additions. I hope you enjoy it...I certainly look forward to getting over to IOA in 2005.

Okay as someone who visited DCA only a short time ago I really must come to its defence here. I quite easily spent an entire day and night at DCA without running out of things to do (is there a rule that you can't ride something more than once??). The park works extremely well because unlike Disney Land the paths and walkways a nice and wide and can carry a lot of people without bottle-necking. You have to remember how young this park is, name another park that opening with this many attractions, none of which is a dud???? The addition of Tower of Terror soon will only re-enforce this. BTW that thing is HUGE! California Screaming isn't even close to the same category as lethal weapon...a stock standard SMALL vekoma SLC 'vs' a custom Intamin monster than packs a punch from go to stop. Grisley is easily the best themed most exciting Rapids ride I've come across. Then you've got the other attractions like Millionaire, Sorin` and Muppets. Did any of you even bother to look at these since they weren’t coasters? Sorin' over Ca is amazing, really cool technology. And lastly is the Aladdin show, as someone who works in the business I can tell you that the show would be amazing if it was on broadway let alone as a FREE show that runs every day several times a day in a theme park. Come on guys...stop playing sheep and bashing a park because everyone else does. I will keep the opinion that I always have that you can't judge a park/ride/whatever until you've actually been there. Same goes for certain people who keep bashing Vekoma and praising Intamin or B&M when they haven't even been on one of their coasters. ::end of rant

Hi Thunder I am also down in Sydney so if theres anything I can do for you feel free to give me a shout. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the 'new slide' is just a refurb...just another example of what I'm always saying. Management tries to pass the place off as a first rate park whilst running it on a 5th rate budget!

No I think the ride nightshifter was refering to was the old Ned Kelly's Getaway attraction that was discussed at length a few months back in another thread...

Well we shall have to wait and see which is true I guess. I must say I'm not sure whether I'm glad or not if its not coming. I would much prefer something new at WL but on the other hand it would be cool to see what they do with it.

Not that this has been confirmed yet but it is looking like only a matter of Time before I get to say "I Told You So." Wonder if I'll be right about their marketing strategy as well :-)

And as cheap as those owners were at least they did add something! These owners haven't added anything. As much as many praise them for how 'clean' the park may be simple fact is IMO the park is nowhere near the standard it once was. Closing one area of the park and relocated the rides to other parts and attempting to pass them off as new attractions to the GP frankly is CHEAP. They have attempted to put on shows, however they have always been second rate and half done...CHEAP. They put on the magic and illusion show and instead of coming up with a proper venue they throw a tent on the old HBB theatre...CHEAP Before they closed Little Wonders they proceeded to remove rides and yet keep the area open, that way they don't have to list them out front as not operating...CHEAP And finaly since the closure of HBB land the admission price has remained the same despite only having 2/3 of the park now...CHEAP You may not agree, however I feel I am entitled to my views as I have justified them here. As for Thunderbolt, I totaly agree with you that it would be absurd, yet knowing Wonderland I just wouldn't be surprised if it did turn up. Think about it, a new colour a new name and billing as "Largest dual loops in the Southern Hemisphere" a vast proportion of the GP would have no idea.

Well honestly if Wonderland is indeed getting a new coaster I wouldn't be at all surprised if it is The Bolt. Apart from Space Probe they really haven't added any NEW rides have they since day one?? Deamon, Fred Flinstone etc. have all been refurbs so given their usual cheapness lets just hope they don't go that way again!

Well I must say its sad to see the old girl go. What will the atmosphere in Oceam Parade be like now without the screeches of every underbanked turn? I do think it is a bit sad, a refurb would have been nicer IMO. What I would like to see (although I very much doubt it will happen) is dreamworld leave the double loops in place after the dismantling of the ride. They are a characteristic piece of scenery on the dreamworld landscape and with a nice new coat of paint would still be very attractive. What do you all think? As far as a show that's not the worst thing that could happen...it IS for Wonderland but dreamworld is a bit lacking. Provided its done well and not in a tent come theatre with low production values and cheap special FX it could be a great thing for the park. An attraction that pulls a thousand or more people off the midway for an hour or so is good for crowd management. Now if you read between the lines it doesn't have to mean the new attraction is taking the land that Thunderbolt used does it? Hopefully we'll see a new major ride come to the space next year... A new coaster of course would be great but given they already have a couple may not be the case, but as the park already has a few flats, and water rides the chances are probably as good as any! I would say if they do floorless or stand-up is what it would be as they have everything else and rocket would be too similar to TOT. Perhaps the race is on between the World in the South and the World in the North over who gets the first coaster. Happy digging everyone.

All I can say is I personally will definitely be trusting the information given by Thunder (who has been a long time poster to the forum, with plenty of insightful info.) over someone who has just suddenly appeared, claiming to be a former employee, and all they seem to do is say the opposite to anyone else. Perhaps you could provide some proof of who you are before trying to convince us with all this 'expert' knowledge you posses.

Yep there is the odd circumstance where a train does get stuck upside down, a wheel failing or a derailment could cause this, therefore not all of these stories are fakes. Most of the time though when a mate comes out with something like that it is a load of crap though :-) The ring of fire type ride is a totaly differnt story altogether. It doesn't work like a normal coaster rather the train goes around the entire track of the loop (some of it has cars, the rest is just bogies(sp?) ). If the drive mechanics jam or stall then the ride will stop regardless of position... As for the Batman and Robin incident I'm not sure of the particulars...anyone else care to enlighten us all??

My 2 personal Favs are that "The Bush Beast is so bad its dangerous, like pieces of wood come flying off when you go past!" and how can we forget all the times we've heard how "<insert looping coaster name here> broke down and got stuck upside down in the loop!!" Some people are SUCH a worry!

I have to say that story about going up and hitting the brakes at 180 sounds like one of those load of crap stories every second punter tries to tell you... Like the time that the girl on demon accidently hit the wrong button and it went too fast and almost came of the tracks! - how many times have we all heard those! Fact is those rides (TOT and STE) were orriginaly marketed/designed around the 180km/hr mark so that sort of speed simply wouldn't have the result you described. Secondly the magnets are not actualy oppositly charged in the braking process, that would speed up the car and send it rocketing back into the station. The charge is the same direction as for accelerating but rather they are fired off in the opposite order. As you said the charge is not quite as strong as for acceleration.

I agree with your thoughts on Dreamworld staff Richard. True there are some good ones, last time I was there the girl out front of TOT was great. However Cyclone is the boggest joke. The fact that they are happy to have one operator for the whole ride is terrible, the rest of the park was empty yet Cyclone had a nice ole 40min queue. Whats worse is the staff you have that come to check restraints and decide to go all the way down one side (very slowly), then go back to the front only to go the same way down the other side and then all the way back up before deciding to dispatch the train... YAY

WOW I'm gonna show my ignorance here but whilst I know all about how both rides work I'm totaly in the dark on this whole magnet synchronisation system you are all speaking of... Anyone care to enlighten me??

I've always rated WL's food pretty crap however I always used to like the donuts when I was younger. The one place I always headed for my food (and this WAS some of the best theme park food) was the BBQ outside on Goldrush where you got the sausage and onions on a roll and a coke buddy. It was always fresh and well priced and YUMMY. However I'm sure like everything else good at wonderland its now gone or 'temporarily' closed.

Yeah I'd have to agree! I was at SFMM not so long ago just after SCREAM opened and it was awsome...there is nothing like the front seat on a floorless! and how about the hoopy station too :-) If I had any choice it would definately be a 4d, X is amazing but realisticaly for bang for your buck and reliability a flooreless would be awsome.

TOT does essentially use the same system for both acel and decel however obviously when slowing the car the process is reversed slightly and the charge is not as great... As Richard said, in the station and the safety track behind (geeze that thing goes a long way) there are fixed magnets in place to stop the car in an emergency such as a power failure or control system failure. Does anyone know of such an occurance happening or even seen it??

Any update on what was the final outcome/result of this fire?

Ive ridden Goliath at SFMM several times and I can tell you its one full on coaster. That first drop is intense and its the only ride ever to get me to black out on that huge spiral at the end!!

Has been quite some time since I visited the park...and not in much of a hurry to change that at the moment. However I will be driving past in a few weeks on my way to Jenolan Caves so I'll be sure to take a look. From your bit of information along with (yes its the beach's big aniversary this year!) the map my prediction without saying anything is possibly we could be expecting a wave pool to be built????

If you like the launch on TOT then Xcel is going to blow it away! Nothing like that instant 0-80mp/hr launch out of the station from the Rocket Coaster...much better than the acceleration of the LSMs. The other thing I love is just as you start the decent after you crest that hill and your just looking straight down on the road below. I think that really makes the ride is the seats themselves, would be nothing like the same experience if you had to deal with OTRs!