Nickelodeon Central - Review

[Richard]

Admittedly, I was somewhat sceptical about how this would turn out. The only new ride was Runaway Reptar Roller Coaster, the rest being old (some really old) rides simply rethemed. I was confident though, that the landscaping and gardens, as always at Dreamworld, would be superb. I'll start with the obvious - Reptar. The coaster looks great, it has fantastic gardens around it, that once they grow up will look great as a rainforested area. The somewhat famous Reptar statue was there, as at Paramount King's Island. It was built standing on a shed, and as an interesting touch, it was modeled to look as though the weight of the dinosaur was breaking the walls. The queue winds through the garden area, beside Tower of Terror's track, and all around you, there are giant mouldings of Reptar's footprints. The station has a nice open feeling, with quite a modern look. Once you're under the cover, there's a TV playing some Rugrats episodes. All I can say is at least they're not repeating the same episode over and over. Twenty at a time are let through the gate to line up at the airgates. Once the train is back and everyone has left, the gates open and everyone hops on. The seats aren't terribly comfortable - they are solid fiberglass - though more comfortable than the regular sitdown Rollerskater. The course is identical to the sitdown Rollerskater. The train handles much better though, thanks to spring-loaded guide wheels. It does feel much slower, and less forceful as the regular version. I'm hoping this is due to the ride being new, and it just has to wear in. As for the rest of Nick Central. It is on the whole very well done, considering much of it is old rides. The area is very open - something that Australian parks lack. On crowded days, it'll be able to soak up several thousand people without looking terribly bloated. The theming and landscaping of the entire area is great. It has set a new level that not only Dreamworld, but all other Australian parks should try to reach. A much more in-depth review will be up at ThrillNetwork soon, which will have plenty of photographs. To finish up, here's a nice picture of the ride on opening day, December 26.

[thunder001]

have to agree on the hole report Richard although I did not see you there on Boxing Day and I was there almost all day. Did you happen to see the channel 9 tv crew there and the reporter that would not stop screaming on the coaster. Someone should have told her it was only a kiddie ride. Still for a kiddies coaster it was not to bad at all. I had a friends son to ride with me so I didn't feel to bad getting on it. HAHAHA

[Richard]

I didn't see you (or anyone I knew that didn't work there), though I did keep an eye open. The coaster was quite good, though I'd have to admit that it isn't nearly as intense as Road Runner, because as I said, it's running rather slow.

[zztopless]

I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to go against popular opinion and speak my mind... Am I the only person who doesn't get all excited about a crappy kiddie coaster and a bunch of stupid kid rides and playgrounds that have no purpose other than to cause channel nine to play annyoing nick-central ads when I'm trying to watch the cricket? Personally, I'm still a bit let down about cyclone. Dreamworld made it out to be such a huge thing, yet anyone with any knowledge of the industry knew it was an old, basically tame, coaster. It should not even pass as a main attraction in my opinion. As for this big 5 thrills crap I keep hearing on the radio, I'm guessing they are counting thunderbolt as one of those...How the **** can they advertise and encourage people to ride the brain hemorrage machine??? ANYWAY, thats my rant for now and as you can tell, I'm not a big fan of nick central. I can't imagine its really going to take away lines from the Giant Drop (the longest line at Dreamworld/My favorite ride) as most (and I do say most, as I know us enthusiasts will ride everything) of the demographic that would ride Giant Drop would most likely not go and line up for a small kiddie coaster.

[thunder001]

ZZ, look at it from a different point of view as I now have to. About 3years ago I would have proberly agreed with you. Now, with two sons to take along, I am greatfull that the parks put these type of areas in. My elder son is almost 3, yet wants to ride all the things there. You try to have a great time in a park with nothing to stimulate there minds, just stuff for the bigger "kid". Yes we were all a bit ticked off about the Cyclone being a second hand ride, but it is still a new coaster for most of us. Just think of it this way. All the money they saved on Cyclone, can go to a bigger and better ride in the future, maybe even a B&M or somthing. You have to remember that the park has to catter for ALL AGE GROUPS. If they don't then they will loose to much buisness. It can't all be big.

[joz]

I'm sorta torn about the whole 'Nick Central' thing. As far as I'm concerned, Nick Central means a couple of new shows, a playground a new kids roller coaster, and some re-themeing of the parks (really) old rides. I wanna see how it looks, have a go of Reptar, but I'm not to fussed on the place after that. After that I'll do what I've always done at Dreamworld: Walk around aimlessly untill I see a ride I wanna go on. Personally I was quite happy with 'Big Dipper' moving to Dreamworld, and I thought the ride was pretty good. However, it helped that everone said it was total crap My only problem with Cyclone is the queue house and the eniffiency of the loading. Nick Central will be a good kids area, but I'm not all that fussed either way by kids areas, so it won't make me rush out there.

[Richard]

Dreamworld or Macquarie Leisure will tell you that over the past four years or so, they've had a very clear-cut plan as to what they would add to the park in coming years. They have a few major demographics, where each investment to the park in these past few years was designed to further boost popularity in these areas. First up was the thrill seekers, with Giant Drop (I'm not totally sure if Tower of Terror was included in this, as I believe that it was before the demographics-strengthening plan was begun). Later was the redevelopment of the Wildlife park into Australian Wildlife Experience, which targets foreigners. Cyclone was never part of the plan - it is by all regards a bonus. Had it not gone up for sale (or for much more than $3m), there would simply not be anything in its place. Most recently was Nickelodeon Central, for children and families. With the strengthening of these areas complete. Dreamworld can take a bit of a break, and get back to what they're really famous for in recent years - the thrill rides.

[reubot]

Actually, I thought Nick Central was alright, especially when you feel like winding down and doing something more tame. Another surprise was that the que time for the Reptar roller coaster was quite short (About 15mins), which can come in handy when you want to fit soemthing else in, yet don't have the time for the huge ques at the major rides. I also thought that Nick Central was a massive improvement in land utilisation over the previous contents of Kennyland. Last year when I went I took a quite stroll though Kennyland and the place was nearly empty - not even many little kids!

[Richard]

I'd have to agree with you on all those points. Kennyland, though having great gardens, and cool water features wasn't really well designed for a large theme park. It was much too inaccessible and 'narrow' to gain any crowds. Nick Central though, is very open, and has several key entrance points. I'm sure it would have to be the highest-capacity area in the park. Obviously it was heavily inspired by Paramount's Nick Centrals, as it really isn't typical of Australian parks to have such large open areas.

[Richard]

Here's the ThrillNetwork review... finally! http://www.thrillnetwork.com/index.php?pag...=thread&order=0