Gold Coaster

Yeah... it's weird to have a Disneyland without Frontier Land / Haunted Mansion / etc. I don't see DCA as a bad park but it could have been so much better. At least the overhaul will readdress the balance somewhat. DisneySea would have been brilliant.

If this happens and it's NOT the Gold Coast, I'm moving to wherever it ends up being. LOL.

It was a joke.

If such news was out, it would be all over the news... someone would have leaked it to them. EDIT: Wouldn't want to offend anyone without a sense of humour.

Oh well, crap ride anyway... I'm over it. I'd rather ride the GD a couple of extra times instead... cooler queue area too. Why we can't have the quality of air-conditioning of Superman's ice cave queue building at Magic Mountain is beyond me.

Yeah but the PA movies have been on TV heaps over the years. I don't think you need to be overly familiar with a ride's original franchise ... bumbling cops are something anyone can understand (and will know from day-to-day life, particularly if/when Ash becomes cop ) . It's just like Blues Brothers and the like at Universal. And often something which is a failure as a movie still has staying power as a show - as in the case of Waterworld. I don't see MW disappointing us however. A show like this will be focussed on vehicles & won't simply be recycling the frills from the PA show. Although in doing this show, they're going to really need more space to make it as good as it can be. Ideally, they would be able to run a NEW Police Academy show (because the theme is quite sound) as well as the new Hot Wheels one so people have the option of both.

I don't think so. I've gotta say, Ghost Rider at Knott's is really fun. Did that before the Midwest Trip so there was nothing major for it to measure up with (although I did the woodies at SFMM before Knott's). Now while GR mightn't be the best, it definitely had the out-of-control factor in its favour. A few times my friend Evan and I thought we were going to die...

I think they should bulldoze it and fill the space with some Flowriders for that side of the park

Definitely a GCI woodie. "Queensland Rumbler" anyone? Or something like Voyage (Gravity Group) going through woods with a heap of airtime hills, tight cornering and the like:

"X" is brilliant. From the moment I entered the aircraft hangar-like station, I know my friend Evan and I were in for a really awesome experience... and it was. You just don't know what way you're going to move/flip next. Surreal ride. The day I get to ride something like that at Dreamworld, I will buy everyone on this message board who comes with me to ride it dinner... Don't think that's a claim I'll get called on.

BEFORE THE TRIP: Not visiting parks that much. Busy working to save money for the trip. Many people around to post updates of Motocoaster construction/Surf Rider/Little Rippers/new Wet'n'Wild flumes etc anyway. DURING: Received angry emails demanding to know when I was updating. This was during early mornings, long days at the parks racing around to get everything done (which was fun but exhausting), not getting back to the hotel until late at night before departure early next morning. When you get that after a 16 hour day, the last thing you want to do, really, is spend another couple of hours doing an update particularly when you cop abuse. So I thought 'Ah they can just wait'. I was on holiday anyway! NOW: Definitely have the time. I just have a heap to sort through.

Yep. I agree with you. Dreamworld should have looked more at getting bang for buck! MotoCoaster could have been MUCH worse... but at the same time oh so much better.

??? There's nothing unattractive about a proper wooden coaster. One with a nice shape that has nice landscaping to go with it is quite attractive. I'd actually be happy to just have something like Beast at Dreamworld if they expanded the park area. I didn't find it overly rough (except in the Jackhammer seat at the very back but even then it wasn't unbearable), just a decent ride length (about 5 minutes; the 10 mins night ERT was brilliant going through the trees and riding the airtime hills etc). Voyage (call it 'Walkabout'? ) or Queensland Rumbler would be MINT though. We just need a few signature rides to offer something for those lucky enough to live in the US or Europe and have so many to choose from. Whatever type that is, I'm sure we can expect some great things in the years ahead.

Yeah. I dislike the Batman Adventure 2 film. Before, you had a live-action style with the Penguin etc and now it's too CGI-ish. The villain designs shown in the Bat Cave are also too simplified & have a kind of 'TAFE tutorial work' look to them. I say take out Wayne Manor and put in something else entirely like a Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters style attraction.

If it's a hot day or raining, going into Intencity will be a brilliant way of getting out of the elements. It's something that won't shut down with inclement weather, works for all ages & isn't something lthat would get repetitive (you could have a different experience in some sense each time). Ok so the games will cost money and you can do them outside of a park - but I think the idea works for the above reasons. I know I'm looking forward to going on this style of dodgems too. Movie World is doing a brilliant job all-round at the moment & I can't wait for what they have planned next.

Strange. I'm 6'6 and I didn't experience any discomfort at all. I'm not trying to offend here but those with cramps, how chubby are your legs? Maybe that's the major factor as to how comfortable the ride is.

Don't do it, it's a trick! ... All footage, photographs and trip reports are fabrications. On the Midwest Trip, we were taken by force to the TPR sweatshop in Indiana where we were fed on nothing but rotted corn & made to manufacture Coaster Expedition DVDs and TPR T-Shirts. What's more Yeah it was a wonderful time. Robb & Elissa are warm & gracious hosts and we are so indebted to them. You should start a life of crime or even a gambling addiction to attend as many of these awesome trips. Really. There is nothing to be afraid at all. This post has been edited by robbalvey: Today, 08:18 PM

yeah, spot on, AlexB.

And thank goodness that we didn't end up with a design where we have to get dressed to ride it! It'll be quite strange to be both barechest and barefoot on a coaster.

Meh. While not Top Thrill Dragster fast (putting the awesome height of that aside, hehe), it will still be a heck of a lot of fun. I'm sure it will spur Movie World on to bring out something bigger and better.

Pfft. Who needs Thorpe Park when you can go to Dreamworld!??!

That tends to always be the way with Dreamworld though. Mess up any since of the bush setting with gaudy crap!

The number of arcade games/midway games in the US theme parks I visited on my trip were ridiculous. Most of the time you would have really decent theming, even in thrill parks like Six Flags ones, but then you'd come across a glut of these 'distraction attractions'. Knott's Berry Farm felt like one of the worse ones as it seemed to have an old-fashioned feel to it which was ruined by these very commercial inclusions. Like midway versions of 3-point shootouts, the prizes of which were basketballs so the park would then be filled with obnoxious teenagers dribbling them about the place.

About time! A carousel would be brilliant however kiddie it ended up being.

EDIT: (Ok so here's a sample anyway while I sort out the rest.) TPR Midwest Trip Day 0 - Bonus Park: Coney Island August 2nd, 2007 Well, after months of counting down every passing minute until the trip, we're finally on it... ZEN COASTER REPRESENT! ... Myself, Andrew Janes (The Eh!mazing Avenger), Allison Alvarez (Moppie Mouse), her brother Chris, Jay Hill (El Toro Extreme), Nadia Begdouri (Coaster Contessa), AJ De Jager, David McCollum & Evan Darlington. Via Air Pacific (Fijian airline) I had flown into LA on July 24 and stayed at Evan's place (great hospitality, thanks Jeanette if you find yourself reading this & will phone you in the next couple of days anyway). We hit Six Flags Magic Mountain, Universal Studios and Knott's experiencing pretty minimal lines for the most part, way shorter than my expectations for a summer coaster safari. Evan then flew to the Midwest to hit Geauga Lake with some TPR peeps while I stayed with Allison and Chris. Did Disneyland and Disney California Adventure for the next 4 days & was introduced to the uber-cool Hip Hop Harry (Google it!). Wink Moppie, Chris and I then flew on the morning of the 2nd from LA to Ohio. Left at 1AM, 3 hours to Dallas then layover at Fort Worth airport then another couple of hours to Cincinnati. The very definition of 'red eye', ladies and gentlemen and none of us drinks coffee so didn't have that to fall back on. On both AA flights, I managed to finally get comfortable ... right when they announced the plane was going to start its descent. TPR supremo Elissa Alvey met us with goody bags (including our Midwest Trip shirts that we'd ordered; I have one in each colour - white/grey/black) which contained amongst other things a Son of Beast survival kit (headache pills, basically) & a cool name badge on a lanyard with a credit list on the back that we can tick as we go. Robb was at the bonus park but their new baby was there & very placid. It was nice to meet Wes who is a pretty friendly guy & weird to meet people who I had never even spoken to on the phone & had just been IM-ing for months. It was soon revealed that the bonus park was old-fashioned family fun park Coney Island with a staggering coaster count of 1 Tongue A coaster called (Pepsi) Python. A short drive later and we were there. Some of the TPR trip gang were spread out on the lawn in front of the coaster including Zen Coaster staff members Jay Hill & Andrew Janes (who kind of looks like a cross between Ron Weasley & Harry Potter Wink) who I am rooming with for the trip. I got on with Divv, a Scottish forum member who I had the pleasure of meeting after months of MSN chat, around the front. Ahead of us were Kim and another Allison, who had flown all the way from Florida. Sitting down, I had my bags stowed at the station and video camera primed in my hand... and the coaster coughed and died. The very first credit, the very first ride made by the 2nd batch picked up at the airport....and it broke. We soon however got our ride and found it actually to have quite a bit of kick to it. It was pretty fun but if you've done a fairground coaster you've done Python, basically. I also rode with Jay as well as another Australian, Jacob, who I'd met once before the trip at Warner Bros Movie World (Australia). Divv & I did a whistlestop tour of the park to take some pics and see what was around. It's basically a little fair with various flat rides, many of them kiddie, and assorted amusements like mini golf & even a water park. We soon bumped into Robb Alvey shooting video of the Python. We left soon after to get to our first hotel: Holiday Inn Hurstbourne. Dinner was at Olive Garden, a place for American-style Italian & a popular meal spot for TPR so an appropriate starting meal. There are over 100 of us so we had split up into groups to choose from the twenty restaurants near the hotel. Photos were taken, pasta was consumed in massive quantities & the ice was broken between a diverse group of 20+ people who were from places as diverse as Holland, Australia (woo!), England & more! We then headed back to our rooms for an early night before Holiday World.