34 minutes ago, themagician said:

@DaptoFunlandGuy of course because a) I know this coaster type does and b) the car is labelled as 26!

So per @Jobe's original - they can name this first car as B1 and the second car they get can be B2!

17 hours ago, themagician said:

@DaptoFunlandGuy of course because a) I know this coaster type does and b) the car is labelled as 26!

I don't think he got it.

A few photos from this morning including what appears to be a section of the old Dreamworld hot dog stand. 

Apparently the alpine coaster opening in November.

8 hours ago, Gazza said:

A few photos from this morning including what appears to be a section of the old Dreamworld hot dog stand. 

Apparently the alpine coaster opening in November.

The hot dog stand has been there for months, before the dreamworld one left.

Yep, It was there when I visited in Feb 2023. Definitely the same design as the former Dreamworld one, albeit smaller.

Edited September 21, 20251 yr by Park Addict 93

🔥🔥  can't wait.  This might be the best new attraction for Australia, in 2025.

Update  ⏬

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1BhJEZ9fmD/

 

Edited October 28, 2025Oct 28 by New display name

Was in Coffs Harbour for work and decided to stop by the Big Banana to see the progress of the Plantation Coaster! It’s looking very good and I think it has a good chance of being open by Christmas. This will be the 2nd Alpine Coaster installation in Australia and it will be the most accessible given that the other one is located at Thredbo on the ski fields of NSW.
This one should be a great ride but it does appear to be a little short. The installation appears to have 2 lift hills. I thought that originally it was meant to loop behind the water park and back around but it’s actually very compact.

It will certainly give a great reason to stop at Coffs Harbour and I think it will be a great success for the park when it opens! Hopefully this gives other Aussie parks the impetus to consider installing one of these as part of their lineup- Jamberoo/Funfields I am looking at you!

 

 

I’d forgotten this was actually happening. I hope it is finished for the summer holidays, would love to give it a run on the way down to or back from Sydney 

🤤

 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRBE73hkqVT/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

The Plantation Coaster is very close to opening and there has been a flurry of media content surrounding this.

Australia's second Alpine Coaster installation should open just in time for Xmas!

Who is going to ride it?

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/17dBQawogv/

 

The website has also been updated for the opening of the new attraction.

https://bigbanana.com/rides-attractions/plantation-coaster/

The park is auctioning off its very first ride of the new attraction and the below article states that it will open Saturday the 13th December.

https://media.destinationnsw.com.au/media-releases/final-section-track-installed-big-banana-fun-parks-58-million-plantation-coaster

Edited December 2, 2025Dec 2 by Jobe

We're in Coffs just before Christmas so hopefully we'll get a chance to check it out

Thredbo Alpine Coaster was great and I will definitely give this a try over the summer.

Tickets are booked for Sunday the 14th. Can't wait

I stopped short of buying a ticket because I'm not sure if the online ticket system is working properly. It lets you buy tickets on days the BB is closed.

Compared to Thredbo's coaster, this looks lame.

We got to ride on December 16th. We made online reservations and arrived first thing on opening.

The staff at the ride entrance were unable to accept our online tickets, meaning we had to return to the front ticket desk to exchange our online tickets for 'admit one' style paper tickets. IMO this essentially defeated the purpose of booking online and felt a bit backwards.

In the time it took to get the paper tickets, another group had arrived and were admitted first - we joined the cars behind them, but after several attempts at dispatch, we all had to be unloaded and moved behind the gate while they used the gantry to lift one of the cars off the track. Several minutes of troubleshooting later and the crew ironed out the bugs and got the ride working again - these sorts of teething issues are to be expected in early days of a new ride.

I asked the operator to leave a larger gap in front of me so I could avoid having to slow down for slower riders in front and they were happy to oblige as there was no queue. They mentioned that each car had a sensor in it to detect a car in front, and the car would automatically brake if it got to within 10 metres of the car in front.

The track has two lift hills which move a bit faster than the old toboggan. The unfortunate thing that lets the ride down is just that the hill is so short. The first track section after the first lift is a gentle sloping track, giving a good view of the sparkling pacific ocean, before you turn into a helix and before you know it, you hit trim brakes to slow you back down to a crawl before you reach the second lift.

The second lift parallels the toboggan lift track. You get some more speed on this second downhill section but it is again over before you know it.

For me - they needed more height for this to be able to give each rider a longer experience. I'd like to have seen some of the trim removed so the slow down occurs later (but harder, to compensate) - the trims are proportionate, but all have a minimum speed, so if you're a cautious rider and hit them moving slowly, you're going to literally crawl through them slower than an airport travelator. Hitting them at maximum speed is the only way.

I haven't ridden the Thredbo one yet, but POVs make it seem like a much better option. Big Banana is trying to keep itself relevant here with the looming Pacific Highway bypass progressing and this is another offering that might convince people to detour and I genuinely hope that it pays off for them and convinces them to continue to invest in the park - but for those who have ridden other alpines, or are seeking a high thrill ride - this is a miss, IMO.

Imagine if the one at Arthur's Seat gets up.... That will be one of the world's longest.

This one definitely looks more family.... But you know, there are some guests on any Alpine coaster that wanna brake the whole way.

It is possible to be "Too long", the one in Andorra was a one and done for me... You're basically having to hold in a flye position for 8 mins straight.

Just wish more of the Sunkid/Brandauer ones existed, they are the fastest.

Edited December 31, 2025Dec 31 by Gazza

Saw a news report earlier that said that since opening they’ve averaged 10,000 riders per week.

10,000 riders per week ( /7 )

1,428.5 riders per day ( /8 )

178.5 riders per hour ( /60 )

2.9 riders per minute ( /60 )

1 dispatch every 20 seconds for 8 solid hours per day.

This number sounds more like the theoretical ride capacity rather than the actual ridership. That just doesn't seem feasible when you account for downtime periods, opening hours where little to nobody turns up (like our experience where just 8 people were present in the first 30 minutes of opening) - They'd have to be dispatching at a higher rate than once every 20 seconds to achieve the average quoted and the way the dispatch system works (the system requires the operator to instruct the rider to move the controls between full brake and full speed to enable dispatch) the explanation alone takes around 20 seconds each ride.

Today I was in the area, so I took the opportunity to stop into the Big Banana Fun Park to check out the Plantation Coaster. Being school holidays (and great weather), I knew it was likely going to be busy and that was certainly the case (but great to see for a regional park).

The coaster itself and how they’ve tied it into the existing toboggan was nicely executed and well presented. The coaster itself looks impressive on the hillside and the views when on ride were pretty impressive. The vehicles were smooth and comfortable, and while it overall seems to have been a good investment by the park (people pleaser), it was an underwhelming experience.

As others have previously commented, as soon as you start to get any speed, you are automatically slowed down and hit the next lift hill. Unfortunately the park just didn’t have enough available land to make this the kind of coaster people might have wanted, and while I didn’t ride it to know for sure, but the toboggan seems like a more thrilling experience (if you aren’t slowed down by the person in front of you).

This is definitely aimed for the family market, and is a great experience to let a parent and child ride together. But if you’re planning on travelling to Coffs just to ride this, it probably isn’t worth it.

And what @DaptoFunlandGuy mentioned earlier in the year is still the case. If you purchase your ticket online, you still need to visit the info/ticket booth and claim your admit one ticket for the ride. Considering how spread out and elevated this park is, it definitely feels like a flaw in the system that also isn’t signed.

If you haven't been yet, get yourself down to Thredbo. The difference between the two coasters is night and day.

Looking back, I think they would have been better off building a luge style ride. One of the biggest advantages is that if you catch up to a slower rider, your entire run isn't spoiled because there are opportunities to overtake the snails. It also makes it much more fun to race family and friends, with everyone able to go at their own pace while still sharing the experience.