downunder

Movie World is a bit light on attractions, even though they have some high quality ones. The last time I went to Dreamworld Thunderbolt was still going too, that was better than Cyclone but still not that great. What did you think of the Shark Bay exhibit at Sea World? I'm very curious to check that out given it has Tiger and Bull Sharks, two of the biggest maneater species.

I haven't been to Dreamworld since 2003, so the memories of that visit have turned me off going again. Good to hear it has improved. Memories of my 2003 visit: *Cyclone is a very ordinary coaster, and the small line took forever. *Giant Drop is very good, but the small line was excuciatingly slow. *Tower of Terror 1 was good, it was running very fast, but not a big re-ride coaster. *Eureka Mine Ride (now closed) was a lot of fun. *The place was deserted and I got very bored very quickly. One weird thing, I was wandering around looking for something to do and I stumbled into the Big Brother stage area, and there was a fully grown tiger just lying there on a grass embankment at the back of the stage area (I wish they would have starved it and then let it loose in the Big Brother house). Later the trainer was walking it through the park on a leash. It must be very tame, I hope.

White Water World is very new, Wet and Wild has been around for ages - when I went there I thought some of the slides would tear me another body cavity, but at least it has a credit. I believe Wet and Wild is one of the most attended water parks in the world, I think it was number 4. What did you think of the Water Coaster at White Water World?

I was curious how you were going to get to Merimbula, true credit whore style, I thought you may have flown. I was 150 km north of there in Feb, and contemplated going down but I didn't due to lack of time, maybe another day. At least I know where to stay if I do go in the future. Canberra is the porn capital of Australia (and co-incidently where all the federal politicians are). I'm surprised there wasn't a strategic rest stop in the Fyshwyk area.

Definitely Mirbilandia IMO, it has the better rides overall. Gardaland is a beautiful park, and now has probably a very good (and unique) coaster, and also some quirky dark rides. Thee rest of the coasters at Gardaland were blah.

Taco Bell failed in Australia and closed, you didn't come early enough to save it. As far as personal preference goes, Universal for me, because I like thrill rides better. Universal lacks attractions compared to Disney, but what they do have is mostly top quality (or at least fun) in my opinion.

I've ridden Superman Ride of Steel at SFNE alone, there's even a photo of that. Definitely rode X: No Way Out solo last year at Thorpe, it was more like X: No Way In; the way they were managing entry inside from the outdoor part of the queue.

11/20 and as usual I got questions wrong on a coaster I have ridden at Gardaland, but it was a very forgettable coaster - ride once, credit, move on.

^I've always appreciated that Movie World has quality rides but not enough quantity, Wet and Wild is up there with the best water parks, and Sea world has some very cool stuff - what marine park has a tank full of Bull and Tiger Sharks, genuine man eaters. Unfortunately I simply wouldn't have had time to go on the Australia trip anyway. You never know I might get up there for Movie World Halloween, which is looking better every year. It was nice to see the Arrow Looper POV - Cyclone, I watched that coaster go up in Sydney, every day I could see it from the train going over the harbor bridge. Sigh, I don't think we'll see anything of any magnitude going up at Luna Park again.

Of course not! This is Italy, everyone is thin!! lol And no one is old in Italy, or at least they are banished from coaster riding. We were there with TPR last and you weren't allowed to ride the SLC if you were 50 or older, so remember your fake ID if you are in that age group. The ride ops seriously ask. This coaster looks great, I hope they get some of these in the US, or even better - Australia (the impossible dream); knowing the way B & M's reproduce I'm sure it will only be a matter of time.

Australia Zoo apparently uses a lot of it's land for animal habitats that are not open to the public. As much as Steve Irwin liked annoying animals in front of the camera ("I'm going to let you go now little fella, oh no I'm not"), he was a fairly passionate conservationlist which I have a lot of respect for. Koalas are the laziest animals on earth, I'd love to see version of the film Black Sheep with koalas, that would be the funniest movie ever made. To MichaelD, rub it in why don't ya. I must admit I'm fairly cynical about Australian parks myself. I've never been to the parks in Melbourne, Perth (albeit not on TPR's itinerary), and Caloundra (Aussie World) - even though I've been to all those places in the last couple of years. Other than a visit to Luna Park (more as a social outing) in 2009, I haven't been to an Aussie park since 2007. I'm interested to see how you go at the other Magic Mountain, I've been told Merimbula (the town) is supposed to be a real fun place.

^Yes, they are both on the same tower, the Giant Drop was added later. I don't know of any parks that do this, given there are two Intamin reverse free-fall coasters in the world (the other at SFMM) - I guess no.

The coaster looks great, the first drop looks like fun. This park impressed me a great deal (as did Stockholm) in 2009, even their Vekoma Junior invert is fun.

^Umm, a couple of us we're making a joke, I believe that's allowed on TPR occasionally. That photo is from Hawk's Nest, and has been featured in the news today. Now I'm waiting to see how much TPR likes Dreamworld, this is personally the one of the big four I like the least. I'll be interested to see how Mick Doohan's Motocoaster compares to Jet Rescue. I found it dsiappointing that two parks so close together both installed very similar Intamins. I hope no one is experiencing B & M withdrawal symptoms in our B & M free continent. I'm glad I'm not a B & M fanboy.

I have to admit this has given me a new appreciation of Australian parks. It was dissatisfaction with Australian parks from a Gold Coast visit in 2003 that lead me to find out how to get to Cedar Point later that year on my first real USA park trip, but they have improved since then. I haven't been to Sea World (I'd really like to check out Shark Bay and Jet Rescue) or Dreamworld since 2003; and I haven't been to Wet and Wild or Movie World since 2007. I keep saying I'll wait until the next major attraction, but that may be a while still. Halloween has looked impressive at Movie World the last few years. Oh by the way the sharks are waiting for you, and don't think you're safe in the shallows - those juvenile White Pointers are still 7-8 foot, and bite: I wish this was a photoshop.

^But you might be supplying the wood if that witch is one of TV Series Charmed variety of spell caster.

Nice report, I also enjoy these reports because they are something different from the usual huge parks, and there's definitely fun to be had. The irony of some of these ghetto fairs is that you can quite easily wind up spending more money than it would cost to get into somewhere big like Cedar Point. It's definitely the case down here, our Easter Show ghetto fair in Sydney makes Disney look cheap.

^You're not immortal. I don't think the Rocker will ever open, I like to say that, so I can happily eat my words. I haven't been to Katoomba in over a decade at least.

The world's first post Apocalypse coaster, yay. With Alton's gift for exageration, it will probably be another glorified junior coaster. But you never know, they might have another Nemesis level coaster in them. I can't belive the amount of money they spent on 13, for something so ordinary, that dropping track bit must have cost a fortune because the rest of the ride didn't reflect the cost to me.

I think Verne Troyer played Superman for the ride, but heres to equal opportunity, a midget Superman. There's some lights off POVs of Scooby Doo on youtube I think, if you're keen. They spent $14 million AUD on Scooby, and it shows. I thought the wild mouse is the least part of the ride, but at least it has some unique elements. I wonder if they still have the nothing in pockets rule on Superman, even your back pockets? It's the most draconian policy I've come across of the 100+ parks I've been too. I got patted down by this girl because she thought I had stuff in my back pockets, I said no (which was the truth) but she didn't believe me. Not complaining about it, there's probably a business reason why (beyond !_0Cker revenue), possibly related to insurance - public liability premiums got so high in NSW, it closed some attractions.

^When they tested Orphan Rocker, it was too dangerous as in people would have been thrown out of the cars (which rock sideways), I've heard. The guy at Scenic World has never gotten around to getting it going, it's an unusual situation. If it ever opens I'll be on the M4 driving 200 km/h heading for the mountains. That's just what I've heard, hopefully TPR got some info while they were there.

Ah, Luna Park fills me with nostalgia and sadness; the original incarnation was like a mini Blackpool with a really cool woodie, which I only rode once because I wasn't tall enough on most of my visits. Where the Wild Mouse is now was the location of the first coaster I ever went on. Sadly, I was there the night it burned down in 1979. I checked out the zombie walk, I was hoping they'd screen some zombie movies on the big screen after. I don't see the attraction of being a zombie, I'd rather be one of the survivors, preferably with several high powered guns and a flame thrower. Hopefully you'll get a chance to check the monster crocodile at Sydney Wildlife World.

32 = number of times Adam has visited Gaylord Palms this calendar year to date.

Once they're done emailing, the people of Sydney will arm their super soakers.

There are plenty of hotels within walking distance, I'm staying at the Hyatt when I'm there in July. I started with Lodging page on the six flags website and then did some further searching.