11 hours ago, joz said:

From memory the entire east coast was being hit by a Cyclone at the time.

Surfrider was under maintenance at the time.

But yes, there was a cyclone at the time – so we'd have lost it regardless – as we did Aussie World.

Megan has just posted the latest chapter. I daresay this one will be a little controversial

Without further ado, I give you... Luna Park Melbourne.

http://pirouettes.org/?p=1872

Genuinely amazed that nobody is outraged by Megan's stuff... and it has been a few days

Wow, you guys really didn't like the Scenic Railway. Whilst I remember bouncing up and down, I didn't come off it bruised and battered (and I've been on Dreamworld's Thunderbolt).

I do remember long waits for most rides and ludicrous queues for f and b. The Scenic Railway was running two trains that day I went, but I gave up on an hour wait on the ghost train.

Richard, do you think if there's a crackdown on ride safety in Australia, The Scenic Railway might have to close?

Lol. I gotta agree about the Scenic Railway. My (very tall) best friend & I went on it for the first time a couple of years ago, excited over the fact it was our first ever wooden coaster ride. Spent the entire ride bouncing around, both of us desperately trying to protect his knees from being smashed over and over into the badly positioned restraint bar.

He was in lot of pain by the time we disembarked, and ended up with some pretty impressive bruises ?

I was also disappointed with the size of the park, way smaller than I had imagined it to be. Shame to hear the one in Sydney isn't much different ?

7 hours ago, iwerks said:

Richard, do you think if there's a crackdown on ride safety in Australia, The Scenic Railway might have to close?

There's no reason why it'd have to close. They just have to rebuild it in a way that it doesn't hurt people. There's a Scenic at Great Yarmouth in England that's absolutely wonderful – so it can be done.

I am not complaining about that review as I went on it a month or two after and agree with what is said. Quite honestly the most brutal coaster I have been on.

Good review.  I can't believe I'd never heard of the fact there was once a Luna Park in Redcliffe.

On 16/11/2016 at 4:50 AM, Noxegon said:

There's no reason why it'd have to close. They just have to rebuild it in a way that it doesn't hurt people. There's a Scenic at Great Yarmouth in England that's absolutely wonderful – so it can be done.

Maybe they could get Mack to help with the refurbishment?

So it's time to resurrect this thread again for the latest chapter – Warner Bros Movie World.

As usual I expect this will be controversial, but hopefully you'll enjoy it

http://pirouettes.org/?p=1978

Another enjoyable read. Will say the most surprising thing about it was finding a Blockbuster that is still open. All the ones I know closed down ages ago.

I thoroughly enjoyed that, as I do of any trip report written by the two of you - There's a few descriptions a little off, but i'll play that off due to the time between the visit and the writing... You guys will need to come back soon to fix those little mistakes... and for no other reason, of course...

Though nothing is set in stone yet we've got tentative plans to drop in in January. Will keep y'all posted.

That was a surprisingly rewarding pay off at the end.  Always a good read.  Agree with pretty much everything written about the ops of the park, though they have got their crap together a little bit in the past year.  They're still neurotic but Green Lantern doesn't take quite as long to load so small victories.

I think in regards to the loading and unloading of rides, it can sometimes come down to the day and staff that are on. I've gone to the park sometimes and operations of most of the rides are very quick and efficient, while other days they are not. It can come down too the amount of staff that are on, but the majority of the times I go, it is during the off peak period and staff numbers are usually around the same.