ozziboy

Great report Craig, I can relate to a lot of things about your trip, including jetlag, lack of knowledge about Harry Potter, and wild expectations when I took my first and only visit there in 2011. For myself, I first headed straight for the Rip Rocket coaster (which I still rate as one of the most fun coasters), then raced clockwise around that park onto Twister, Mummy, Earthquake, previous Jaws, ET, etc. so it was like finally seeing all those classic 'movie' attractions that I'd always heard about, which used to be the basis of the park's existence. I did Islands Of Adventure on a different day including Potter etc. but that park didn't give me the sense of 'finally here', even though several rides and the theming there were great. I don't know how much things have changed now, but it certainly seems like the whole place is becoming a lot more like IOA than the 'classic movie' styled park (if that makes sense). I realise both parks are based on movie themes, but there used to be a subtle difference, in my opinion. Looking forward to the rest of your reports!

Thanks Robb, a wonderful free bonus for club members! This was actually one of the first times I've managed to download a large digital media file from TPR. Probably due to old un-maintained network infrastructure in parts of Australia, all my previous attempts downloading TPR digital files have always 'timed out' and my connection resets before they complete. I left this file downloading a few hours overnight, and lucked out that my connection never reset during that period and I managed to get the whole file. It plays on my Windows 7 PC, or I have a Philips media box that can play mp4's on my TV. From the small grabs that I watched so far on my PC, it was really great!

In Australia, we've figured out a way around that problem... things that we chuck usually just come back!

It's not the biggest, fastest or craziest coaster by any shot, yet Piraten is simply one of the most fun coasters to ride! It's like you go and take Expedition GeForce, then shrink it down, yet still have endless pops of airtime and super smooth turns; there are no neck/shoulder-bashing restraints; and it only takes up half the space! It's surprising that more parks don't put these in.

I mostly watch on my PC because I like to flick YouTube up to huge fullscreen, but I don't have any gear setup for watching on my lounge TV. I'm very random in browsing videos, and usually just surf via Google searches for park or ride names, so pre-selected playlists or channels never really interest me. It was actually through Google randomly finding one of Robb's incredible POV's on YouTube that I first discovered TPR! I sometimes read a couple of other people's reactions on YouTube (for a laugh), but never comment there myself or share stuff, partly due to lack of time.

^ Thanks Robb. Sadly I haven't yet had an opportunity to ride Dwarfs , so I'm only going by the way they both looked in the videos - ie. loads of lights/lanterns set up inside the cave. Disney often mirrors similar attractions or experiences between their east and west coast parks, so I was just wondering if they maybe saw the theming upgrade/refurb as an opportunity to give the west coast a small taste of the Dwarfs Mine experience without having to build a full new attraction. I can't wait to one day get back to Orlando and get to see the real deal for myself! (other side of the world... sigh)

Wow, I wasn't aware that they'd been upgrading this attraction. The new ending looks really cool - is the new cave intended to reflect the style of the new Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at Disney World? I'll always remember Big Thunder as the first attraction that I rode on my first ever visit to Disneyland. I think it was because it seemed to have the shortest wait on that particular day!

I've got to admit that I'm one of those that loved riding Helix that day. Just as a coaster, I don't think I'd rank it in my top list of all coasters, but as a package with the beautiful terrain setting, the station theme music, that crazy queue line, and a fair amount of airtime hills made the overall ride something I'll always remember. The Bla Taget ghost train at Grona Lund was really cool, and it was so nice to still have a 'traditional' one where they don't try to preoccupy you with shooting at targets, as some do. As for Cyclone, its looking like it should turn out to be an incredible ride. I might have to check out a POV of the old ride to try to remember how it was, to compare all the changes.

I find the updates to be most useful when I don't have a lot of time to visit the TPR site. Recently I've been able to check in on TPR more often, making the emails a bit redundant. But at other times of the year when I'm busier, they're a great way of keeping in the loop. (And they arrive Tuesday down here, which makes them not-so-much a 'Monday thing'! )

This is a design of coaster that I've never ridden, but it really looks like fun and everyone in the video seems to have been blown away by it! Hope to ride it one day.

Finally, we get a flawless, informed and thought-provoking commentary given by a well-respected and credible World Class expert in his field. .

This was a really fun smooth ride, which had a nice scenic view as well. But I find the single word that pops into my mind when I think back about riding it is "Fluoro"!

Certainly the most intense experience and the most G's of anything I've ever ridden in my lifetime, like your face being stretched onto your skull! I'm so glad Robb kicked off his Daily videos with this. This ride is even incredible just to watch from the ground, because it moves so fast for such a gigantic machine - especially in its turbo cycle.

I loved the Sky Tower! I think after the trauma of the high ropes challenges in Copenhagen, this seemed comparatively easy. Special thanks to Robb and Elissa for including this for us rather than it being an upcharge.

I didn't want to create another new thread, so I'm just posting this here: Australia's / World's Best Theme Parks Today our local paper, 'Perth Now' posted this article discussing its "Top 10 Australian Theme Parks", and even more interesting, the "World's Best 20 Theme Parks" (all according to TripAdvisor's traveller's choice awards, it says) The interesting things are that; a) for Australia, Movie World doesn't even get a mention, and; b) apparently, Discovery Cove Orlando is the World's Best Theme Park! Sea World properties grab both top spots, so perhaps I somehow underestimate the popularity of dolphins? (...in TripAdvisor Land, maybe.) Perth's one and only Adventure World also doesn't get a mention in its 'own' newspaper!

As always Hanno, great pictures. Did you not get any photos of Gruvbanan (otherwise known on that day as "the ABBA coaster" ?

Amazing photos again, Hanno. I also rank that day at Liseberg as my highlight of the whole Scandi trip! Until I saw your pictures of the Helix queue line, I'd forgotten about that hilarious "TPR queue takeover" where we had the soundtrack pounding and everyone synchronized their walk pace along every segment of that mind-bending queue structure in time with the beats. The park was open by that stage, and the locals couldn't figure out what was going on!

Nice report Aaron, the night photos came out pretty good! Its nice to see some of our parks try something to drum up business in the middle of our winter, and an even bigger challenge to then use a theme that relates to a tropical party in this season. Going by what the public are wearing, I'm guessing that it was still pretty cool in Queensland?

Amazing quality photos as always, Hanno! I like the way you caught the Supersplash splashdowns 'frozen' right at the point of impact... I can almost feel myself getting completely soaked in that front seat all over again! (What was I thinking to take a seat there?)

I always read them initially in the forum, but when I want to find out about a particular park for planning/deciding where to visit, I'd look for info in the park index.

Perth's Adventure World had reports in the local press over the last two days. Several posts back it was mentioned how their castle accidentally burned down during the fireworks to open the Abyss coaster. Yesterday's story was that they were definitely going to rebuild the castle during the next winter. WA Today But today, they're saying they'll take the insurance payout and may use it elsewhere at the park. WA Today I'm hoping that means another new attraction , but it's not really a lot of money in that context. While the castle was iconic to the park's history/theme, to me it always existed without any real purpose as an attraction; other than a lookout it had nothing else inside and was not the tallest point in the park by any means (the nearby hilltop is currently occupied by a drop tower and speed waterslide). So while I don't like to see it just demolished and the insurance money absorbed into operating costs, I'd be happy if its removal was in order to replace it with something more exciting. I'm just throwing this idea in myself, but while the park is very water-oriented with slides, tubes and pools, Perth doesn't have a River Rapids ride or a Splashdown, which are 2 of my favourite rides! And elsewhere in Perth, another park, The Maze, just added a new water attraction to their existing maze features. WA Today

Sadly I'm old enough to remember that Just for the Record TV show mentioned in that LINK , and how it was played up as being 'The Scariest Rollercoaster in the World'. While I doubt there's any footage of the show around today, I remember it showed its host, Gary Who, supposedly 'riding' the thing and hamming up a terrified face, but only showed him in the train moving along about 10 feet or so of track. They were shots which could have been set up just near the dock that Robb posted above, ensuring they never framed a context for where the section of 'operating' track was. My point is, that I also doubt anyone's ever done successful 'laps' on the Orphan Rocker as implied by some of the above articles. And from what I've read, my impression was it was never intended to be a high speed thrill ride, more like a powered coaster/motorized train running just a modest speed, but in a very scenic (and maybe precarious) setting. Of course, after catching that mid-80's footage it inspired me to eventually make my way there and in 1988 I visited, only to find it in almost the same state of unfinished neglect as it is today! Just like everyone that's ever visited, I asked about it and was told one of their variable stories explaining why its not open, but 'may be soon'...25 years later, yeah right. They would have made a better return by charging money for these stories!

I voted for option 1. Even though I don't use twitter, the giant image on option 2 just seems to chew up too much space on the page. When I visit the site the first place I look is always the top of the right side column of news and updates, and then read down to see what I need to catch up on. One thing I couldn't find on the new design is a "more" link at the bottom of the scrolled news list, which is useful if you don't get a chance to catch up in a long time. Another thing I often click on the original page is the "Random Stuff!", because I notice old items I'd never been aware of, such as older trip reports. It seems to have been scrapped in the new design, but for me personally I'd use that rather than the twitter area. As others have commented, fans of twitter probably follow tweets by more immediate means anyway, like on their phones.

My copy of RAW 8 just arrived in today's mail, which is perfect timing since it's my birthday this weekend (even if I gave the gift to myself! ) Thanks Robb, and for the bonus Coaster Wars magnet and chapstick as well!

It's China's Christmas message to the World, for having to make all the crap that we give each other.