Spinning Wild Mouse at the Ekka

[thunder001]

Advertised for the Ekka this year is a 2.5million spinning Wild Mouse. Will have to go and ride it for the credit.

[Richard]

That's pretty good news. I'll have to head out again this year and check it out.... not totally sure whether that's good or bad news (it's $18 entry - PLUS rides).

[Andy_q69]

I rode it at the Australian Royal Easter Show. The track is purple and green if i can remember. It's the only spinning wild mouse in Australia. I think i'm the only one here who has ridden it..?

[thunder001]

Picture in todays paper was in black and white, so I can not yet confirm the track colour, but had some really funny looking mouse trains on the ride. Will be going past the Ekka grounds over the next couple of days for work, so will be sure to check it out.

[Andy_q69]

Yes, I can't really remember the maker of these spinning mouses, but Flea might be able to know. He's got the website and all. That mouse is really harsh on the brakes and can cause some slight headbanging.

[Richard]

It's a Reverchon mouse - Maurer Sohne's spinning mouse isn't a portable design, and those two are essentially the only manufacturers of the spinning mouse.

[Shaun]

Damn', they stole my idea, I wanted one of those.... Do we know who owns it? and we have to pay $20 to get into the Melbourne show! Shaun

[joz]

Hey, thats not too bad, we have to pay $12 for the Gold Coast show. Last year the highlight ride was one similar to Dreamworld's ava.... Angry Beaver's Spooty Spin. It cost $5 to ride.

[Andy_q69]

Haha! I remember that from the Easter Show a couple of years back. I remember it went backwards too. Or is this different to it?

[joz]

Yeah, this one went backwards too. To be fair, It was almost the $5 to see a friend of mine get sick going backwards.

[Shaun]

We have one down here called the 'Materhorn' with a snow theme. Half of it is inclosed and it goes backwards too

[Andy_q69]

Aha! I think that one is the one we had SHaun. It had a snowy mountain theme which I don't think suited the ride AT ALL. It went backwards, and had this little dip at the rear end of the ride where it was enclosed with the snowy mountain landscape.

[Shaun]

last year when it was down here (south east victoria) it was only $4.50 a ride. I watched it getting set up and it's quite interesting, I don't think people realise how technicall some of these rides are, I mean there simple in theory but it's amazing how it all comes together. On a side note is there any rides travelling at the moment like the wipeout sorta style? A fair while ago I remember one coming down here and I also recall hearing one falling apart during a show but I have not seen or heard of one for a few years now? Shaun

[Nightshifter]

i rode it at the sydney royal easter show, it was built in france and they sent it here, i dont know what was so good about it, it was short not enough sharp turns and it was like a normal wild mouse roller coaster for about 3/4 of the way until it started to spin. it was a bit fun but thats all i recall. i really liked the zipper, that was the first time and definately not the last, luna park sydney should actually install it back in the park like old times, it doesnt take up a lot of room as well.

[thunder001]

^ Not sure if this is the same one. One of my work mates said he saw it today in test and it was spinning around the corners at the first corner. He said that it only stopped spinning when it went down and up the dips. Will have to have a look for myself.

[Richard]

It will be the same one. There's no way with Australia's relatively one-way carnival circuit that there'd be more than one of this style of "innovative" ride in Australia. I'm going to make an educated guess (or two) as to why it's alleged (for lack of a better word) that it is running more freely. Either they're running it looser for testing get the ride running smoothly for when it opens - they do have some degree of control over the spinning (though changes would be manually made and require quite a lot of tweaking). Or alternatively (and a much more easy to grasp explanation), the lack of people in the cars, will result in significantly less weight, giving less momentum, and consequently make the cars more prone to spinning.

[joz]

On a side note is there any rides travelling at the moment like the wipeout sorta style? A fair while ago I remember one coming down here and I also recall hearing one falling apart during a show but I have not seen or heard of one for a few years now?

Not sure, there was a travelling top spin (like wipeout, but like most top spins only allowed the arms to move together) doing the rounds for a while (Spin Dragon I think it was called). After the accident where the Gondola disengaged (fell off) the rotating arms, I haven't seen or heard of any, though carnie rides are not my strong point.

[Andy_q69]

Come to think of it, has anyone seen beetlecoaster's topic about that Belgium park? I saw one of them snowy rotating thingys that we were talking about earlier. In the video it is going backwards.

[thunder001]

This is the same one that was at the Royal Easter Show in Sydney. I was working at the Ekka yesterday and asked about the ride during my lunch. The ride did not spin alot last year due to a lot of things, being new, the weight of the riders in the car and where they are sitting also helps. According to the guy I spoke with, the ride works best if the train is full and there is a heavy person on one end. The ride can also be "helped" a little around the corners to get it spinning more. And to correct myself, the ride does indeed spin down the drops. A totaly great ride to watch, but could not get a ride on it no matter how much I begged, will have to pay like every one else.

[Andy_q69]

I had to pay $5+ to get on the spin mouse. Yes, it spins on a few drops but not all. It is great to watch when in the queue line.

[Ian]

I went on a spinning mouse 2 weeks ago at the Santa Rosa fair in Northern California and I have on ride video footage It has 2 levels when you reach the top of the lift hill, the 1st level does the (S)? turns normally then does the second level spinning.

[Andy_q69]

The one at the EKKA goes up the lift, and does the usual wild mouse track. A few hairpin turns then it comes to a tiny drop and travels well above the station spinning. Then it takes the biggest drop of the ride. After that it does some more wild mouse stuff (spinning) and then on the final tiny drop you spin. I went backwards on that bit.

[Richard]

I was out at the Ekka today (don't worry, photos, videos etc. coming "soon")... it's the same ride as it sounds you rode, rabid (well, Reverchon make two models, so there was a 50% chance it'd be the same ride). It's certainly not as rough as some made it out to be. Quite smooth for the entire ride, which is VERY short. The spinning doesn't start until the second level of hairpins, and I was amazed at the affect this has on the taking of the turns. One turn you're barely moving through it, and the next one everything is a blur because of the way you spin around it. The final dip is taken spinning, which was a pretty freaky experience. Now... the bad part. $7.50 for a single ride! :evil: That is outright a joke. As if $5.00 rerides make up for that joke (even $5/ride is way too much). For a company that can't even make up their mind on what the ride is called (Crazy Mouse, Spinning Coaster, Crazy Coaster), they sure do want to get their money's worth... jackasses. What happened to the Ekka where it was about bringing the country to the city for a family day of fun? Don't give me the "insurance premiums" excuse again... RNA are just a bunch of greedy, money-hungry snobs. They had a 21 year old singer from up way north to sign as one of the highlights of the evening, and RNA, who would have had 20,000 people there today (that's 20000 x $15 (or so) = around $300,000 from entrance ticket sales today alone), kindly thanked the kind couple that sponsored her trip to Brisbane to perform. If they can't cough up the $1,500 tops that it would cost to bring her down for a week, then I really think that they've really forgotten what they're trying to achieve. The carnies (we here at Total Thrills are politically correct), food vendors, showbag sellers etc. are just as much to blame as RNA, but it's beyond a joke. It'll take more than a shiny new coaster to bring me out there next year... and indeed ever again. As you can see, I'm somewhat annoyed.

[HussRainbow]

this is bullcrap!, the crazy mouse isnt at the melbourne show, thats soooooo unfair!

[scott]

Yeah,it's a good ride,I sure would like to ride it again.