Adventure World 2015 - 'Mi2' Kraken Tornado slide

[Adam C]

Do they send a second raft down before the first one has completely cleared out of the pool?  Otherwise the downside of the longer ride would be a lower hourly capacity than a stock Tornado.

I couldn't see if the previous raft had cleared.  The ride time of around 60 seconds suggests it didn't.  We were dispatched as soon as we were in place.  One thing I would raise is that pairs were allowed to ride on their own.  I'd insist on a minimum of 3 riders to take the edge off the queue. That said, I'm sure the queue will ease off as the season goes on.

[grrofunger]

Just rode the Kraken this morning. Its definitely thrilling. Needless to say its the most popular ride in the park. I can only suggest season pass holders arrive at 9:45am and head straight for the hill. The afternoon queue was 2 hours but it was opening day and the last Friday of school holidays. Abyss was only 10 mins.

 

so there was 1200 in the queue?

[Adam C]

so there was 1200 in the queue?

I wouldn't say 1200 but maybe 800.  Not all of the rafts had the full 4 riders.  Some were 2s & 3s.  The queueing pens were full and the back end was coming down the hill to the freefall area.  I think the reasons I mentioned earlier contributed to a bumper crowd for the day but I reckon tomorrow onwards will be better.

I won't bore everyone with the dozen or so photos I took but this gives you an idea of the queueing area.  AW might consider it a success.

[grrofunger]

Wow , thanks for the pic , glad i didn't end up going today

looks like some shade up there would be handy 

[Adam C]

Wow , thanks for the pic , glad i didn't end up going today

looks like some shade up there would be handy 

The Kraken opened at 11am. I made an educated guess to join the queue around 10:35.  By 10:40 the line was going down the hill so I was really lucky. I think we were about the 10th raft of the day.  No chance of a 2nd go though; until my next visit.  

[iwerks]

Congrats on the Kraken, great ride. Got to the park around 9.35 and the car park gates were already open. Went and rented a locker before  heading up the hill. The ride started operating around 10. Waited 10 minutes the first time, around 15 minutes the second. The ride is very different going forwards compared to going backwards. More to follow...

[iwerks]

Really enjoyed riding the Kraken.  Congrats Mark, great choice of ride.  I like how you've done the theming.  They've blocked off the view at the top of the hill, so you don't really see everything until you get to the ride and queue line.  When you're about to climb aboard, it really looks like the Kraken will take you all the way down to Bibra Lake.  The queue area is good, with shade sails shaped like a ship's sail.  However, there is a part exposed to the sun, which might need additional cover.  Loved the fact that the ride station is a sailing ship and that they measure the minimum height of riders with an oar.  Good to hear the backstory as well as general atmosphere over the soundtrack of the ride, too.

The ride, itself, was great and I thought even better backwards.  It gets pretty dark after the 360 degree turn.  The plummet into the funnel was awesome and there's the smallest of airtime.  The pool at the end of the ride was freezing, but I'm sure that won't be a problem for long.

The ride ops were asking for single riders and pairs when it started to get busy.  It was interesting to note that other attractions, such as Abyss and the Grand Prix Raceway were relatively quiet in comparison to the Kraken.  I rode the Kraken twice, before going on the racers, the speed slides, the Pirate Battle bumper boats (where I had the longest wait of the day) and then Abyss twice. 

And that was all before lunch.  Congrats, once again, Mark.  Can't wait to see what attractions are coming in the future.

 

[Tim Dasco]

Well done Mark and team. This is the best themed water slide I have ever seen. Not that I have seen any themed water slides before. But I think the attention to detail on this is amazing and now with all the other improvements to AW over the past few years are starting to merge together. I can't wait to ride it. ???

[grrofunger]

very cool theming, great job

[XxMrYoshixX]

Awesome job Mark, I really like the theming, cannot wait to ride it personally!

[Mark Shaw]

Thank you everyone for the great feedback. I think it turned out well. It is always an interesting journey from idea to conceptual drawings and then onto delivery. Budgets are always a challenge and there are still a  few tweaks to get it the way I would like it but it is 95% there and we are all extremely pleased with the result.

 

Here's hoping for strong growth this season so we can carry on upgrading and improving.

I should note that aside from talking credit for the original idea for the theme the congrats should be spread to include Atomiq who produced the conceptual designs, Theme builders over in the Philipines for all of the fiberglass theming, creative works who painted 80% of the theming and our Engineering and Maintenance team led by the dynamo that is Chris "Stimmo" Stimson. The project wouldn't have been possible without the continued financial support and vision of our Board.

Watching the first rafts go down on Friday morning, seeing the excitement and trepidation, hearing the excited screams  of guests as they entered the first drop from the launch, it was good to think that the slide will entertain so many hundreds of thousands (possibly millions) during its life span and will probably still be delivering those wows in decades to come.

[grrofunger]

Popped my Kraken cherry today....

"300 wretched souls"..........heard that for what felt like a million times.... the park was much busier than i expected today and the kraken line was looooong.

Wait was about hour and a half so only rode once, it wasn't that hot today but up on that hill waiting for the slide got quite warm and uncomfortable and there was lots of complaining. First Aid ended up getting called and water was handed to someone who appeared to be quite faint, water was then offered to everyone in the line by someone who took the liberty upon themselves to walk around offering the first aiders flask of water and pouring it in peoples mouths. Quite weird...was like the end of the world and the last flask of water available ever ! kind of added to the atmosphere of doom trying to escape the kraken...

I think there are gonna be issues come summertime when it actually gets hot, would be very unpleasant up there in the line. Lines and wait times in theory should drop as the ride settles in and everyones first up curiosity dies down but i'm not sure this will happen for sometime yet.

Spray misters in the queue or a couple of water drinking fountains up there might be needed.

The theming looks very good in photos, it is excellent in person (except the eyes look too friendly) stepping up onto the boat to enter the slide is very cool, the sound is cool (even though the story over and over again begins to grate) the creatures legs are cool - they are going to get ruined very quickly as everyone is so disrespectful and hits and scratches them etc- society is full of arseholes unfortunately.

The overall theming just adds so much to the experience, its very well done.

The slide itself , i need to ride more ! The first 360 is rather intense, the drop into the funnel is excellent and the airtime/lift up the sides of the funnel also excellent. I've been on many tornadoes that you barely lift up the side. This isnt one of those. I rode backwards the whole way being the big heavy one with my 2 small kids the other riders. It's a great slide no doubt. As i said i need to ride more to accurately rate this slide, At this stage i have aqualoop at GC WnW and as basic as it is the large slide at Seaworld ahead of it - but i have ridden them heaps of times and got heaps of enjoyment from them.  We should all be very grateful for Kraken it is definitely a top notch world class waterslide and could well become my favourite in time. (i was recently at Adventure Cove water park in Singapore and this beats every slide there by miles - even the hydro coaster) 

Park is looking good , lots of new signage (though to me the sea serpent and tidal wave signage looks a bit tacky, not great font etc-) and touch ups , new cabanas are great , i will definitely use them at least once this year, particularly in dragons kingdom.  The resurfaced hill up to kraken is much smoother on the feet , hot hot red though.

Utilised the 25% off for food today and comfortably fed 2 adults , 2 kids and a toddler for $35 lunch , unheard of value especially in a theme park. 25% might be too generous?

If Krakens lines show no signs of dropping off i will be getting plenty of fast passes this year at $35 i think they are crazy good value also - I think i bought them 5 times last year at $30 for me and the kids. I thought the staff were doing a great job with the fast passers on Kraken today too - as the line was so long they were letting approx 5 groups go before letting a fast passer through , so it was still mega fast in comparison for the fast passers but not too 'unfair' on the plebs waiting for what felt like an eternity.

Took me too long to finally get there for the first time this season but looking forward to another great season at AW 

 

[iwerks]

Good report grrofunger. Can't believe it was that busy on a weekday. I rode it twice with about half an hours' wait in total, so the key is to get there early. Suddenly the fast pass is looking a lot more attractive. 

 

[grrofunger]

Today was the last day of the school holidays and i think everyone had the same idea i did - 'oh the park will be quiet because most schools are back today"

Wrong !!!

Clearly most schools were still off today !

Carpark was full ! - we didn't arrive until around 12pm though and there were long lines at the entrance too - only 2 staff on for entrances and 1 staff member selling/handing out the season passes (her offsider was on lunch)

Edited October 12, 2015 by grrofunger

[iwerks]

Yeah they opened the car park gate around 9.30am on Saturday and the ride started at 10am. I think that's a good way to manage crowds. I noticed that the Grand Prix raceway did not have a very long queue, about 15 minutes or so on the weekend.

[iwerks]

It's odd that the Kraken doesn't appear on a lot of the signage around the park or on the website.  I presume the website is because of the upgrade that's coming. 

[Tim Dasco]

Wait this is the park map locates next to the lagoon and near the Abyss area. Due to what's in the background. But why does it say you are here pointing to the front of the park?

[Mark Shaw]

This error has been picked up already and being rectified with the permanent park map signs, along with Kraken references which were hidden previously for obvious reasons.

[grrofunger]

.

Edited October 18, 2015 by grrofunger
oops

[grrofunger]

Cool thing to do in the Kraken queue is watch the Abyss track flex and sway after the train goes through... particularly the first loop after the big drop.

The track moves quite a lot !

[iwerks]

Did you go back again, grrofunger? I heard it was quite quiet at the park, yesterday, because of the rain (and the fact that it was under 27 degrees).

Adventure World's Facebook Page also picked up my review of the Kraken and my recent 'Unauthorised Guide to Adventure World' post on my blog, which was nice of them.

[grrofunger]

yeah good work on your stuff iwerks

i went today to AW , the place was a ghost town (sadly) but ironically i went with only my 2 year old for a few hours so we went up to the top (on the cable car) and had a look at kraken but I couldn't go on with him - there was practically nobody up there.

spent our time mainly in dragons kingdom with all of approx 5 other people.

the water was cold !!  

had lunch , I had the kahuna burger -  was good, chips were average, junior grro had nuggets - I tried them they were tasty but overcooked. still good value price wise. (25% off) 

[iwerks]

And in case you haven't seen this yet, another great video from Adventure World.

[Ashley]

And in case you haven't seen this yet, another great video from Adventure World.

Nice job

Only Problem is the video needs to be just a little bit bigger.

[grrofunger]

Hit up AW again this afternoon - went on the Kraken twice, only approx 15 minute wait.

Definitely a world class slide, not totally sold on the first 360 but the rest of the journey and the anticipation for the drop is cool and then the drop into the funnel itself is awesome.

Love it.

PS - Love the ship entrance at the start too.