downunder

^Thanks for that, interesting.

Fear and loathing at Sydney's new waterpark and allegations of corruption: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/security-alarm-went-off-before-wetnwild-nye-party-20140111-30nmh.html

An interesting article about a "very serious" proposal by Disney for a Sydney development. http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/walt-disney-company-proposed-a-disney-resort-in-sydney-20140111-30nfk.html

Wow $10 million in eighties money is helluva price for a mid-life crisis. I'm sure they enjoy this lawn ornament driving coaster nerds nuts. Would TPR have gone to Scenic World if there wasn't the Rocker to gawk at (though it is of value as a tourist destination), would it have attracted attention? There's enough urban legends about this coaster to fill a year's worth of National Enquirer editions. There's some quite amusing reading on parkz about this. Even some who claims to have a ride on this when they were testing it. I'm surprised they spent $34 million on upgrading the scenic railway, do they run a drug cartel on the side to fund this?

My current work building where I'm sitting right now is on the site of a former amusement park that even had a rollercoaster (Sega Mega World). Luna Park 2 miles / 3.2 kilometres North Merimbula's Magic Mountain 285 miles / 549 kilometres South Sea World 536 miles / 836 kilometeres North Luna Park Melbourne 545 miles / 877 kilometres South

Well and truly beaten to the punch on El Toro. Though the rather imaginatively named RMC Goliath might give it a run for it's money. I bet Arrow were banking on Six Flags cloning X...

We won't go anywhere near this place until February at the earliest. I'm not a big water park fan, so it's no big deal if I never go. I'd be more interested if they get lo-q at some stage. I'm hoping this gives Village Roadshow impetus to add an amusement park and perhaps develop a whole precinct.

Rattler to Iron rattler Texas Giant to New Texas Giant Steel Phantom to Phantom's Revenge OTSR's replaced with lapbars on flight of fears.

^Ha, I didn't know it was you that wound up on Jason's lap, that was just amazing. I need to ride Phoenix again, it's been way too long.

Phoenix isn't a coaster, it's a near death experience. Though I wonder how intense it would be with a lapbar instead of a buzzbar. On the TPR trip I was on that visited Knoebels, one rider wound up sitting on the lap of the rider next to them - though maybe it was a cover story for trying to have sex on a coaster. Boulder Dash is intense, but based on my experiences it doesn't have the airtime of my top 4, but as observed already, the terrain aspect makes it amazing. Wild One at SFA is one a lot of people rate, but it was Mild One when I was there, very sluggish.

^^Thanks Robb, that sounds like a prospect, didn't have the seating on rcdb for that one. Looks like a fun coaster.

^I think it's an error by the journalist probably. ^^Robb, what coaster is that?

12 seat trains, that sounds interesting for a coaster that size, a lot like Timber Falls Avalanche or whatever it's called this week. Maybe it was a mistake and it was meant to be 12 plus 12 for 24 a train. My money's on GCI, but maybe S & S if it really is 12 person trains. Sounds like a nice little park.

I'm a bit of a Blue Streak fan too, I rode it a lot more times than Gatekeeper on my last visit to the Point. Not in my top ten, but well up there.

Agree on Magnum XL-200 is a shadow of it's former self since they changed the braking at the turn-around. Also agree on Raging Bull is more Mildly Flustered Bull with those trims, as if the B & M hyper experience wasn't calming enough. Apollo's Chariot was also a bit of a mild one in 2008 when I last rode it. Tower of Terror II at Dreamworld was supposed to a radical re-invention of the original, but it only goes half way up the tower.

To me, GCI are like the B & M of wood coasters - very good, but never mind blowing, never pushing the envelope (at least out of the 11 I've been on). Wodan, for me, seemed a bit faster and out of control than the others I've been on. I also concur American Thunder was a lot of fun.

I thought Nova Scotia was a deserted tundra populated by bears and beavers. A place where people would go to escape the zombie apocalypse. I bet a few credit whores are checking out maps now. Great find BTW. It will be interesting to see which GCI gets the highest, so many of them are alike. Wodan is my fave out of the ones I've been on.

^I agree, a shoulder season break-in period might have been a good idea. I hope it succeeds wildly and encourages them to add an amusement park as well...with Balder and Expedition GeForce clones...okay, stop dreaming.

Wet and Wild Sydney seems to be get many hot and bothered, rather than cool and relaxed. http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/wetnwilds-many-problems-have-councillors-fed-up-20140101-30643.html

Mean Streak: needs a complete reprofile to prevent rider deaths - from boredom - a good candidate for an iron horse treatment. Ghost Rider - needs help. Layout is fine, but the coaster rides like it has square wheels. Topper track or iron horse it. Hades: in keeping with the theme of hell, a large amount of fire should be applied, preferably delivered by a stealth bomber. Call in the air strike.

1. Outlaw Run - what an amazing coaster, didn't go inexpecting it to be amazing, but it was. 2. Maverick - after only 3 rides in 2007, got a lot of rides in 2013 and I couldn't get enough. 3. A large amount of daylight....

^My top 5 are so hard to split, Outlaw Run, El Toro, Balder, Phoenix and Boulder Dash. The Dash is amazing and intense at night, the middle three are airtime monsters and the Run is just plain kinky.

^^That's what was happening, if I recall correctly one year, a group of people were ranking Expedition GeForce #1 and Superman Ride of Steel at SFNE last when they had ridden 100+ coasters. That was quit a while ago though. Outlaw Run looks like a real shot, it seems like most people who have ridden it are giving it number one and a lot of other people's number one's seem split between several coasters: El Toro here, Phoenix there, Boulder Dash and so on. I'm one of the people who will contribute to an Outlaw Run victory because I've been on all the top ten from last year except T-Express and the Happy Valley one. I was sceptical about Outlaw Run until I rode it, short, but every element is great - the drop is as good as El Toro, intense airtime delivered in many cases very differently to any other wood coaster and the finish...

Yin, it's usually around 400-600 ballots after they've weeded out Voyage and Prowler fanboys. I'm not sure if it's still up, but you can see what people voted and how many votes. On Voyage, I last rode it in August 2007. And it had no airtime and was absolutely pulverising at the turn around. I rode it front and back and everywhere else - no good. Love Holiday World though. Thanks! But why do they weed out Voyage and Prowler fanboys? It's usually obvious, fanboys put their favourite coaster at number 1 and the likely rivals at the bottom to try and rig the poll. I think that has pretty much ceased now or at least they prevent it happening.

Intamin Half Pipe at Wet and Wild Gold Coast Australia.