Jamberoo TR

[TOT]

This is my first trip report so don't expect anything elaborate. My friend michael and I went to jamberoo for the day yesterday, and it was a fairly enjoyable experience. We left palm beach at 7:30 to get to the park around opening time. Traffic was pretty bad so we got there around 10:40. We walked through the gates to see rolling hills of "meh"-ish waterslides/do it yourself rides. The le mans raceway: You ride around a concrete circuit in unbelievably slow "Audi's" The most boring ride in the park. Highlight was when a little kid cut my friend off and he ran up the back of the little kid who started yelling something chronic. The toboggans: Pretty slow, but they were a good time waster. The queue line STANK though. Chairlift ride up was enjoyable though, it didn't break down untill we got off wait about 10 minutes at the bottom, 5 at the top. wave pool: It was great! much better than wet 'n' wilds. it had a sort of boomerang shape to it, and the "waves" were bigger. The two regular (body?) slides. Basic old unreplaced wet 'n' wild whitewater mountain slides, with a few tunnels. enjoyable enough, wait was about 5 minutes The lazy river. Better theming than wnw, with a grotto and various water "obstacles" - five things that spray a trail of water into the air, jets that push bubbles up to make a fountain, lots of waterfalls, two bridges, great scenery. I liked this ride. walk on. Aqua racer:Great fun! I loved it. I won 4 out of five times against well and truly grown men.. (i'm surprised they fit into the lanes!) and my friend lost every time. And a sore loser too.walk on. Taipan: Was shut down for an hour and a half... 11:30-1:00 because the ring returner thing broke :s we got two quick goes when it opened though before the crowds came running. GREAT ride, beats mammoth hands down. the darkess and little dips inbetween corners make a stack of difference. The rock: You jump off a rock.... choice of three or five metre jump into a five metre deep pool. 5 minute wait. you couldn't even do flips :s Overcast most of the day, though it didnt rain. Overall a very nice park, moderately themed and a lot of fun. the food wasn't too bad either. If I missed anything it probably wasn't worth commenting on. Feel free to ask questions though. TOT

[dreamworld_rulz]

Great TR Jamberoo is an awesome park. The lazy river is fantastic especially the wave cave. The wave pool is way better than WnW. When you say the toboggan was slow do you mean slow drivers or the ride is slow? When Missy & i went on it we had a learner in front. All we did was stop/start (on the beginners track) Glad you had a great time. I'm hoping to go back sometime next year.

[TOT]

No, on the straights it just slowed down a lot, and really wasn't all that "action packed". yes, the wave cave thing was awesome, I didn't know how to explain it. I do like how there is a little aboriginal influence in the wave cave/kids play area.

[dreamworld_rulz]

I forgot to mention that with the lazy river you don't have to have a tube which is great because waiting for one can take ages. The only thing i hate about Jamberoo is that everything is on top of a hill. The walk to the Taipan really knocks you out.

[TOT]

The walking's only with the regular slides (set of two) and the aqua racer (which we did four times) the taipan was annoying as we went up and asked them how long it be three times. when we went up there first they said 30 minutes, then 30 minutes later 40 minutes, then the time after that was only 10 minutes so we waited until it opened. It isn't all that bad really, just a bit of an annoyance I suppose that's really the only way to do it given the parks location.

[rappa]

That's weird you say that because the Jambaroo alpine slides are probably the best ive ever seen. They suck if you're stuck behind someone that doesn't understand if you're on the advanced track you better not brake at all! But if you hurl that thing down the track its insane.

[TOT]

I'm comparing it to the Toboggan hill park in Port Stephens. You actually slowed down on the downhill straights instead of speeding up. You go almost twice that speed at the track at port stephens, plus the toboggans themselves are much sturdier and ultimately just a tonne better. I wasn't stuck behind anyone either.

[dreamworld_rulz]

Missy and i went on the advance track and we flew down the mountain. I nearly flipped it on one of the corners. Scared the crap outta me. So i then started to apply the brakes before the corner. The track was insane though.

[TOT]

^^ Really? as there's no way I could've flipped mine, mine just slowly meandered its way down the mountain. It wasn't really the slightest bit fast. It would have gone about 25km/h max. :s

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

The trick with these is you need to find toboggans that have the brakes set for speed. Anything that has new brake pads... put it back. You want brake pads that have no square edges on them at all - all nicely rounded - This means that on the fast track your brake panels won't contact the track on track joins \ turns etc. Regardless of the brake pads however, if you are pushing the stick forward (not letting it rest in the middle where the pads do rub slightly) you will accelerate all the way down the mountain because it is DOWNHILL It does not seem like you are going fast on the straights, because the straights have less joins, and less welds, so the click-clack sound you hear is not as frequent. It is possible to tip your toboggans, but it comes down to weight management. Lean with the corners, but don't over lean, and you will never have a problem. When we were there at the pleasure of Jamberoo, which included walk-ons to everything with our special press passes, I took the time to experiment with the toboggans. In the end I would load my own toboggan and keep using the same one, once I found one with some good worn pads, loose wheels and a nice even keel. Being that we were shooting photos at the same time, this was a must, as I kept the brake lever pushed forward by crossing one leg over the top of it - No brakes all the way down.... nice.

[GoGoBoy]

That's weird you say that because the Jambaroo alpine slides are probably the best ive ever seen. They suck if you're stuck behind someone that doesn't understand if you're on the advanced track you better not brake at all! But if you hurl that thing down the track its insane.

I'm pretty sure someone was actually killed on one of these things a number of years ago. Does anyone remember that? Possibly at the Port Stephens one

[Dylaan]

I'm pretty sure someone was actually killed on one of these things a number of years ago. Does anyone remember that? Possibly at the Port Stephens one

I've heard loads of rumors, but I don't know of anyone actually getting killed. Loads of injuries though, you have to sign a waiver and there are 'slow' signs on pretty much every corner.

[dreamworld_rulz]

I've never heard of any one getting killed one a Toboggan ride. On another note many years ago my cousin flipped his Toboggan at Gumbya Park. It was his 1st time and forgot how to use the brakes. EDIT : I've only ridden 2 Toboggans. Gumbya Park and Jamberoo.

Edited January 24, 2008 by dreamworld_rulz

[Richard]

There are two different kinds of sleds which these rides can have. The first are the sliding version, which utilise two rubber wheels and a pair of runners at the back which are basically plastic blocks. The second are the rolling version which have just four wheels. The benefits of the sliding ones is they're almost impossible to tip because the sleds can roll sideways just as easily as they go forwards so they'll naturally bank the turns with very little effort on the rider's part. The second kind because they're running on four rubber wheels rather than slide pick up some mean speed but in order to get them to bank they require some cajoling on the rider's part. The faster you go on the rolling version of course the further you have to bank, the harder it is to bank and the less time you've got to do it in, which makes them quite easy to tip. The rolling version is also significantly faster than the sliding version and this is why you'll see a lot of rides with these with signs every turn urging riders to slow down. To give you an idea of the added friction of the sliding ones, they can't operate on a slope less than 12%. A lot of the rolling ones need to be be fitted with in-built brakes that cap the speed because they're capable of insane speeds. Jamberoo uses the sliding sleds, most other toboggans around Australia use the rolling. The difference is immediately noticeable to anyone who's ridden both kinds - Jamberoo's are impeccably smooth around the turns but the speeds are never huge. I really like Jamberoo's two as enjoyable intermediate sort of toboggans. They're far from the most intense or fast we've got but the sacrifice you make with the faster rolling ones is the ever-present threat of taking a spill -- which in itself I suppose adds to the ride a bit, but it is far from enjoyable when it happens to you. In my view Merimbula's is the fastest and most intense toboggan we've got. No others here compare to the final few turns if you're taking it without brakes. I've only ever taken a stack on the one at Corin Forest which I'd rate as number two.

[Spotty]

I certainly know about those Toboggan's at Merimbula! And they really can pick up some mean speed on those last few curves when you don't have the brakes on... but just watch out for the op at the bottom And GREAT TR by the way