Was reading the Sunday Mail this morning and there was an Ekka article (page 11) confirming the Taipan, which was known as the Thrillseeker at Sea World, will be one of the rides this year. Here is an excerpt from it: "Also getting the finishing touches is the much-anticipated sideshow alley. Max Laurie, 62, an enduring member of the Australian show circuit, has brought his rollercoaster The Taipan to Brisbane for the first time. The ride, which once wowed crowds at Sea World on the Gold Coast, took a crane, two forklifts and 11 men to assemble on site. "It's fairly demanding work, a bit dirty," laughed the grease-covered Mr Laurie who is part owner of the ride along with Scarborough man Peter Short. But he promised the ride would be ready. "We are just doing some cosmetics and cleaning it up," he said. From Dubbo in central west New South Wales, Mr Laurie has spent his life in the carnival industry and reckons the Ekka is one of the best. "I think it will be a great crowd this year... it will be something not to be missed, I can tell you." http://roller-coaster.com.au/coaster.php?cid=14

Always wondered if anyone ended up buying thrillseeker, cheers for the article. Must admit though the idea of thrillseeker being taken apart and rebuilt a few times a year is just a little bit scary to me

Lol, it's only been in the Databases for 2 years but anyway, 3 days till ekka

glad to see TAIPAN venturing out for EKKA this year....will see it at xmas down here in Victoria. Very funny you mention joz, the idea of it being racked and built... at rye it had a bit of a scare... one car was stuck on the first set of helixes, and another set of cars was stopped at the top of the drop, which runs into the helix.....but it was all sorted without any problems.. Got some photos aswell chris

Thats really interesting, just out of curiosity how spaced out are the cars? I seem to recall at SW a 'train' couldn't be dispatched untill the one in front went down the second drop. Any idea what the dispatch trigger is now?

Hey, I'm thinking about going to the ekka this year, but in NSW we don't get a holiday for it. Could anyone get me a ride line-up? Thanks,

Taipan, Haunted Mansion, Thunder Bolt, Break Dance, Techno Jump, No Limit, Mega Drop, Wave Swinger, Slingshot, Rollerghoster, gravirtron, Speed, Space Roller, Ali Baba, Super Sizzler, Euro Slide, ferris wheel,claw, chaos, Ferrari 500's. dodgem cars x 2, Cliff Hanger, Twin Flip, Circus Circus, Zipper, Hard Rock, HangOver, Rockin Tug, Sea Explorer, Plus kids rides Cheers OZshowkid

WTF does ekka stand for? and why is it called that? Every show that i know of is called *insert town here* Royal Show. So why does Brisbane have a diffrent name?

It's suppose to be at the Show so if you go you'll see it before Chrissy.

Which show do you mean?

WTF does ekka stand for? and why is it called that? Every show that i know of is called *insert town here* Royal Show. So why does Brisbane have a diffrent name?

Ekka is just short for 'exhibition'. It's not an abbreviation for anything. The full name is 'Royal Queensland Show' but was originally 'the Brisbane Exhibition'.

heres a photo from Rye... chris

These coasters were built to be travelled. It is far easier to inspect everything when it is regularly built up and dismantled.

Rode Taipan today, three times It was a lot of fun, well-named though - certainly a good deal of whiplash happening and a small amount of airtime which was nice. It broke down while Daniel & I were on the Ali Baba and everyone on the ride mocked them - at the top of one of the hills... It was nice to finally ride this coaster, shame I couldn't have enjoyed it in its former Seaworld environment though (due to large gap since my last visit). Corkscrew is next on the agenda.