Gazza

Hang on, why does a theme park have to have an overall theme? Not many parks do one theme overall because it gets boring and you run out of ideas....Not saying you can't, but few parks do. Like, Ferrari Land in Spain has quite a limited palette to work with and results in weaker attractions that are shoehorned to fit the theme. I thought theme parks can have several distinctive themed lands. Eg the way Phantasialand has Africa, China, Klugheim, Wild West etc. Some parks might be a bit weak with their lands, but that's how I define if. Amusement Parks are just more generic, and more just (usually) present stuff in an attractive manner, eg Adventure Park Geelong, Hersheypark. Adventure World is a tricky one, because although it has themed zones, the park is so spread out and has large areas of no theme that it ends up feeling like an amusement park when actually there.

Yeah when I rode it at Ekka a couple of years ago it spun stupidly fast and towards the end I was wanting it to be over. Do many riders actually enjoy it being operated in that manner? Do they sell many re rides on those days?

If you did Shanghai you could also visit Happy Valley, which is on the Metro. They've got a Dive Machine, an Intamin Megalite, a B&M Family Coaster and a woodie, among other things.

Efteling would be awesome for young kids IMO.

It's getting on in years.

Yeah to be honest a topic that's just about monitoring another webpage and re-posting it doesn't float my boat, but I won't stop it. It's only really good if it's unexpected maintenance IMO.

Did Australia even need another Gyro Swing though? (And did AW even need another spin n spew for that matter?) ***** Im curious how much taller it is compared to the claw? Like a meter or so?

The hook turn thing isn't major, few intersections have it..... you shouldn't really be taking your metal box into the cbd, and if you do, you can suffer the hook turns

An RMC of some form and a Wing Rider or Flyer would make me pretty right in the coaster department. I also want some form of motion base dark ride.

The park would be on the 705, which links Mordialloc and Springvale stations, though that needs to start running on weekends and in the interpeak period

Because that land already is used for parking in peak periods, so sealing it will only get a tad extra capacity (due to people parking in a more organised manner with marked bays) What they need is more actual land for parking, hence the Kopps Rd car park.

Alibaba presumably.

Zagames/Pellicano are developing an indoor water park in the SE of Melbourne, it will be indoor/outdoor, and feature a semicircular waveoz flow rider, a slide boarding slide where you earn points guitar hero style, and a master blaster, to name a few. Itll also have an outdoor section, with a retractable facade connecting it to the Indoor part. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.thehotelconversation.com.au/news/2019/03/05/pellicano-and-zagame-release-plans-100m-water-park-dingley-village-melbourne&ved=0ahUKEwj9ntnF9engAhWXTX0KHa7BA3kQqQIIKSgBMAE&usg=AOvVaw1xy-OBUIbIRb7xK14jPYGq http://www.kiis1011.com.au/newsroom/melbourne-getting-southern-hemispheres-biggest-water-park https://www.3aw.com.au/cool-reaction-to-melbournes-proposed-new-100-million-water-park/

Steamed hams.

What are you saying with that photo?

I visited Toverland last year, and you can see all the photos of it here. I was staying in Essen, Germany, which is only about 60km as the crow flies, but the journey took like 3 hours due to having to change trains at Viersen, and then again at Venlo, before finally getting a local bus to the park from Horst Severnum. To add insult to injury, my first train was late to Viersen, causing a missed connection by a matter of minutes, and a 50 min wait for the next train. I didn’t reach the park till after opening. I cant really recall what order I did stuff, so I’ll just give some impressions and the stuff I did. The park is basically just a couple of green sheds, with some nicely themed outdoor rides and some other bits that are tidy, but otherwhise generic feeling. Both the sheds felt a bit dark inside, and the theming never feels truly immersive because there’s no escaping being in a giant shed….Some of the set pieces look great, but they feel “Stuck In”. (Eg look back at how the main entrance looked) The themed areas get better in the outside bit, except for the original play areas and Booster Bike. One thing I liked about the park (And in Europe in general) is the large number of play areas and playgrounds scatted through the park. As a kid, this would be awesome, I remember when I was little I preferred playgrounds to mini kids rides! As for the rides: Boomerang Perhaps the only Vekoma named Boomerang that isn’t a Boomerang. This one is a kiddy coaster, but actually has a pretty cool layout that is more than just the gradual helices you see on roadrunner. Only one train available though (Which was the theme for the day!) Booster Bike Not Bad actually, but perhaps a bit forceless, though this is a family ride. The cable launch did have a bit of kick to it though. Much more comfortable than the Intamin or Zamperla bikes. I did feel the layout could have done a bit more, it was really just a couple of sweeping turns in an extended figure 8, some hills, and then done. Dweverlwind This was a good one, a mack spinning coaster with a really intricately themed station with spinning flower type things on the roof that I guess reflect the spinning nature of the ride. Everything would come to life whenever the train departed or arrived. The ride itself is well structured, with a big first drop and high banked horseshoe, and then after that its all fairly low to the ground helices and s bends, keeping the pace right up. Backstroke This was an indoor outdoor flume ride by mack, made from modular galvanised steel trough sections, so it carried a similar feel to the some of the transportable mack flumes. It was pretty middle of the road to be honest, with a few turns inside and a backwards drop, then a bigger lift hill to the outside of the building, with a full sized drop. I had arribatta pasta for lunch at a nearby eatery….F&B aint this parks strong point, I’ll leave it there. Aqua Snake So a lot of parks in Europe have these dry water slides you ride in your street clothes, to date, most parks have just had the straight drop / wavy drop ones, but this one was a proper enclosed water slide with a helix, so I just did it for the sake of it really. If you’ve ridden Broken Headz at WWW, you know what to expect. Djengu River This one is a Hafema river rapids, but it was fairly conventional, with none of their fancy elements like whirlpool drops or vertical lifts and the like. The theming was immense, one of the prettiest rapids rides out there, despite a challenging design where it was built above ground. Just compare this: To the abomination at Legoland Windsor built in similar circumstances. Maximillius Blitz Bahn A Bobkart ride. For those unfamiliar, its like one of those toboggans you control the speed of with levers, like at Jamberoo/Funfields/Big Banana etc. Except its not on a hillside, and the carts are electric. I felt this design lacks a certain something, like you know Weigand invented the ride for clients who don’t have a sloping site, but on the other hand its not quite the same without the feeling of gaining speed till you are scared you are going to flip the thing over The ride is a bit low capacity, so has a really well themed queue themed to an inventors workshop, with lots of moving bits and bobs, including a kinetic ball machine sculpture in one of the rooms. Fenix Spited by this one, it was still under construction. This is the second time I’ve missed a wing rider by months, the first such instance being when I was at Holiday World when Thunderbird was under construction. They were also building a boat ride and dark ride simultaneously. I thought it strange they would put the dark ride in the outdoor section of the park instead of connecting it to the indoor area with the other all weather attractions. Katara – Fountain of Magic I mentioned the play areas scattered throughout the park, but things like this fountain show demonstrate the way this park just has a whole bunch of “nice” things that aren’t necessarily drawcards, but work to make the park a good overall package. It was an enjoyable diversion for a few minutes and compact enough to take in all at once. Parden Van Ithaka Wooo, time to tick off a new ride type. You just sit on a horse that runs along a monorail track , which bobs a bit. Good for the kids, but you saw a few bigger ones having a ride for a laugh. Toverhuis This was my first go at a magiquest, which is basically magic wands that are glorified remote controls. You wander through a small house with effects that can be activated by pointing your wand. It’s a bit like what DC Villains and its interactive stuff is like , but on a smaller scale. Villa Fiasko One of the best things in the park, a traditional style funhouse, including a revolving tunnel you can plant your hands firmly inside and do a cartwheel type manouver. Theres all your usual spinning platforms, shaking walkway, and inflatable rollers things you squeeze through, rubbing your face where everyone else presumably has. A slide for the kids joins the top and bottom floor. Troy The highlight of the park was this sprawling GCI Twister coaster, at this point I can probably recycle my reviews of them. They are a bit samey (Including that station flythrough element), but generally quite solid rides, with fast pacing and a confusing layout. Sadly only 1 train on, which meant an unnecessary wait and only a couple of rides managed. The ride sat in a nice ancient Greek themed zone. So that’s Toverland. A few more of the park: I’ll be interested to see how the park grows, they seem to select good attractions and integrate them well. I’d gladly revisit the Netherlands, and here, in the future.

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Blue Fall at Sea Paradise still has it.

Did you check out Gumbuya World on this trip too?

Hey GCAF what's the difference between sinking and syncing?

The bus is now leaving for Three Month Island, Qld.

Belantis is located about 10km south of Leipzig in Germany. https://www.parkz.com.au/parks/DE/Leipzig/Belantis If the gallery is being buggy, cycle though the photos from this point to see all 180: https://www.parkz.com.au/photo/18063-Belantis/gallery/sort/newest/location/park-225/offset/0 I had a few spare days left on my rail pass, and it’s only 1h 15m to get from Berlin (Where I was at that point) to Leipzig, and then from there you take a local S-Bahn train to Markkleeberg and a bus to the park. I got caught out because the return buses don’t run as often outside of school holidays, so I would have been stuck till 4pm. Instead I got STUNG for a taxi back. Belantis is a spread out park (About the size of the dry part of Dreamworld) built around an old coal mine. The pit is now a lake, and there are different themed lands, eg Medieval, Egypt, Ancient Greece, Mayan, Native American etc. The park feels like a mixed bag, some pockets have quite good looking theming and feel like immersive zones. Other parts it looks quite weathered and cheaply done, a lot of the park is just grave/bitumen paths and long grass and untidy landscaping.And maintenance doesnt seem the greatest, with crumbling theming in parts. If you go on Google maps you can sort of see how spread out and sparse the park is. https://www.google.com/maps/place/BELANTIS+-+Das+AbenteuerReich/@51.2536898,12.3132948,467m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x47a658c795f65d89:0xe080217d017f2766!8m2!3d51.2536898!4d12.3154835 I reckon the park would have felt better if they had just brought it all closer together. It’s the same issue WnW Sydney has basically. As for the rides, they are alright and some were interesting and unique, but I don’t think anything really grabbed me other than Gotterflug, which was a riot. The entrance area I thought looked good. Quite liked how the building was overlaid with the sundial design. First ride was Hurcan, a large Eurofighter. I heard this one was quite rough, and it shook a bit, but nothing unbearable. I don’t think you’d want to ride more than 3 times though. Starts off with a vertical lift and drop, zero g, then an oddly shaped cobra roll the train appears to wobble through. Then after a couple more turns it finishes off with some interlocking corkscrews. Nice layout actually. Too big for this coaster or top spin though. Aint it the cutest? After that passed through the Pirate themed area and tried Capt’n Blacks Piratentaufe, which is one of those family sized drop towers except it can sway from side to side. Cool little gimmick actually. The pirate area looked quite good, but it’s basically an island of theming, and once you leave its back out into windswept barren park area. It happened to be on the way but Posiedons Flotte was next, the park was dead so I was the sole person flicking around on this thing. They are their most fun when you hold the boat inwards and then suddenly turn outwards, which creates strong lateral forces. Think of it like a water borne version of flying scooters. Pressing on was Fahrt De Oddeseyus, which is a tow boat ride around the lake, passing some crap ancient Greek theming on the way, and at one point passing through a concrete culvert tunnel. Good way to waste 10 mins. I couldn’t hold off on the Egyptian bit any longer, and joined a 10 minute queue for Fluch des Pharaos, a large flume ride built by Hafema (The company that brought us Jurassic Park in Singapore and River Quest at Phantasialand. It’s sort of halfway between being a rapids ride and a flume, with boats that are inflatable dinghies holding 8, with the metal lap bars strapped/sewn onto the rubber body of the boat. The pyramid looks impressive from the outside, but a bit of missed potential. The indoor section of the ride is very brief, and really just long enough to get you to the elevator lift. Theming is essentially flat walls with a couple of statues and a mannequin of a temple explorer. The boat rolls sideways into a vertical lift, where there is a UV painted image of a big Pharaoh head, before you are lifted up, and slide sideways out again at the top, and down the main drop. The main drop is about as big as WWF, but not really wet at all. From there the ride is done at a speedy pace, leading through a few more twists and turns, and into the whirlpool element, which looks more interesting than it is, but the curved drop in the middle is kinda waterslide-ish. A couple more turns, passing a waterfall on the way, and the ride is over. It’s better than a regular flume ride, but the theming was too featureless. Right next door was Cobra Des Amun Ra, a Gerstlauer family coaster, and quite good, with a punchy layout full of elevation changes. It doesn’t just lumber around like the likes of Roadrunner/Madagascar. The station and queue building was nicely done for a coaster of this size too. Just as I got off, the park mascot made an appearance in the STATION, and then hopped on for an actual ride. You’d never see that here in Aus. Doubling back on myself, I took a ride on Gotterflug, which is a Gerstlauer Sky Roller. This is a similar concept to tailspin, but instead of it being seats on a tilted arm, it’s more like a star flyer in that it is a circular ride that rises up. The thing is super easy to get spinning, so you can get triple digit rotation counts if you like. I held back, but still spun more than any ride I’ve done on a Sky Roller. Crazy stuff. The back of the park is one big dead end, which is silly. There’s what, about 200m of path missing between Huracan and the Native American zone that would complete a logical loop around the lake, but its absence results in an 800m backtrack to reach the end of the park as a result. The park has a heap of random little non rides, like this nature walk, wonky bikes, kiddy cars etc. Filler I guess. This medieval town square is another example of a pocket of good theming, but all the shops were shut. So the next bit was the Medieval section, which has a Gertslauer bobsled coaster called Drachenriit, more or less a wild mouse on steroids with a spread out layout, and a much more interesting design overall. Starts off with a curved drop, then a few conventional switch back turns, then the remaining majority of the ride is quick helices and punchy bunny hills. Great fun. This whole area looked quite nice actually. The main castle building holds a Vekoma mad house ride, which I was sad to miss since it was closed for maintenance, but at the same time I’d done plenty of others on this trip anyway, so it wasn’t a full on loss. There was also a hedge maze. The bit at the back of the park was a sort of Native American village. I skipped over the canoes and the Frisbee ride. At that point I had done everything I wanted to, so I swung back via Huracan and tried a ride in the back seat instead, and then made my way to the exit. Time spent around 3 or so hours. It was at this point I discovered I had misread the bus timetable (carefully typing the footnote on the timetable into translate led me to discover that certain buses don’t run outside holidays), so I headed back to the entrance, where guest services called a taxi. I ate a pretzel in the meantime, before departing. Overall, the park is just average. I went mostly because it wasn’t too far out of the way from my location, and it meant more or less completing the set of major parks in Germany. Doesn’t stack up to the majors like Phantasialand or Europa of course, but I felt the 2nd tier parks like Holiday Park or Tripsdrill were better as well.

No megathreads.

https://outline.com/Nn9hP8 It will be a Rockin tug, a power surge and a wave swinger.

This story sounds like BS of course. But, the driving school does have a glass pool fence around the perimeter with a glass gate, so I'm guessing that would be what the description means.