azza29

^Thanks. We're visiting five SF parks in the space of a few weeks, so that should help save some money on drinks.

There are going to be some ridiculous G-forces going through that loop - seriously getting excited for this ride!

^Any day now they will announce a new breakfast restaurant called 'Toast Rider'.

^Yep. Everyone has been free for 24 hours, still no go.

Thanks for the update - this new area looks great! It is just me or have Zamperla done pretty well out of this redevelopment? Did they elaborate on what this means in practice? I'm curious as to how it will work. Does it mean that ride cycle times will be inversely proportional to queue lengths?

Grr... my game is stuck. Currently working through the Hibbert Family Practice quests, according to the FAQ the next quest will be to get Krusty to promote a product but that just won't pop up. I'm just getting the random tasks but no progression. Hopefully an update will come along to fix this soon...

I like the WhiteWater West version much better than Proslide's Superloop. Also - when you have FOUR Aqualoops it makes for one very attractive slide tower!

My tolerance definitely wavers depending on how professional the ride ops are acting. I get far more frustrated with short queues where the ride ops are dawdling and taking ages to dispatch trains, than a long queue with efficient operations.

In place of theming, nice landscaping can really add to how enjoyable a park is. I'd consider Dreamworld more of an amusement park, but the parts of it that have plenty of trees and plants are far more pleasant to spend time in.

Has anyone used the meal deals from the park's website? $22 for lunch and dinner seems like good value if you're planning to spend the whole day - is it?

Seaworld's Jet Rescue is my pick. Not so high as to scare the kids, but still gives a fast and thrilling ride.

I enjoy both types of park, but I feel like theme parks offer a better day out. Good theming can do wonders to an otherwise unremarkable ride. Shows are a great way to take a breather from the queue/ride/queue/ride cycle. And there's a great sense of escapism that you don't get from an amusement park.

I'll be visiting 20+ new parks over the next few months, and although I've tried to time my visits to coincide with low crowds I like knowing that there's the option of these skip-the-line passes if it does get busy. As a single-time visitor it absolutely makes sense to spend more money to maximise my visit. It seems like that's the group these passes are aimed at (and priced for), not the locals who head to the park every other weekend. I agree - much easier than having to make an "appointment" to ride a ride (the exception being Disney's fastpass, since it's free). I also like the Busch Gardens system - lower price point gives you single-time priority access, the more expensive one is unlimited.

Finally got some time to write up part two: Warner Bros. Movie World! It hasn't been all that long since I've been but they've added a LOT in the last year and a bit. One brand new coaster, one redone coaster and a brand new dark ride. These additions have made a huge difference and it's encouraging to see the local parks getting some regular investment. I read recently that Warner Village Theme Parks (owners of Movie World, Wet n Wild and Sea World) are planning to spend $10-15m annually on major additions to their parks. If this happens I'll definitely be planning more regular trips up north. Movie World is extensively themed, perhaps not to a Disney standard but it's clear the park puts a lot of effort into getting the atmosphere right - to the point where it overshadows the rides in some areas! More to come on that... We visited on what I thought was going to be a slow off-peak weekday. Turns out it coincided with Chinese New Year so the park was quite busy in spots, especially the more family-oriented attractions. This made for some interesting experiences, especially in one particular show. The park has four coasters of note, along with a kiddie one I didn't ride. Superman Escape was down for maintenance, but based on my previous rides it definitely deserves it's high ranking in Mitch Hawker's poll this year (Intamin launcher with dark ride portion? Yes please!). Green Lantern is a brightly coloured El Loco themed to everybody's least favourite superhero. This thing is awesome. It's not particularly fast but I found the slow-ish inversions fairly intense, especially on the outside seats. I reckon we will start to see El Locos popping up all over the place in the next few years. They pack a great punch and have a small footprint, and the four-across seating makes for a very wild ride. The rethemed Vekoma SLC - Arkham Asylum - is a shining example of how to turn a terrible ride into something pretty good. As a fan of the video game I was impressed with how well they've themed this coaster and the surrounding area, and there are parks which would promote the new queue as a walk-through attraction in itself. The new KumbaK trains are a thousand times better than what was there before. When your head isn't being bashed repeatedly against the restraints it's amazing how enjoyable an SLC can become! Proving how much good theming can improve a (mostly) stock-standard ride is Scooby Doo's Spooky Coaster. It starts off with a haunted house-style dark ride portion, then a vertical lift takes you to the top of the coaster part of the ride. The coaster in itself is just a wild mouse, but there's a surprise drop that wouldn't work outdoors and remains quite popular with families. Sorry Disneyland, Justice League: Alien Invasion 3D is better than either of your shooting dark rides. Sally Corp have done a great job with this, combining physical and on-screen targets seamlessly into the same environment. So perhaps Starro isn't the most well-known villain but hey, he gives us plenty of starfish to shoot at, so I'm not complaining. Alright, onto the photos! Good morning Movie World! Those who can tear their gaze away from Superman's stunning track will notice Arkham Asylum in the distance. Central plaza was empty at park opening but it didn't stay this way for long. As much as I appreciate the rain protection the canopy offers it's not at all photogenic. All those bullet holes and the windows are still intact? Impressive. Christmas lights are still up. In February! I guess everyone has been too polite to say anything... Entry to Superhero plaza. No, I don't know why the exclamation mark is so far from the end of the word 'ride'. Green Lantern coaster! To the left is the viewing area, which is positioned to maximise your view of loved ones waiting in the queue and station. One for the park index. The first part of the queue tells the story of our hero. Apologies for dodgy photos, the vigilant-yet-mildly-despotic queue guard wouldn't allow a camera through. But an iPhone was OK apparently. Here is my list of superheroes that are less cool than Green Lantern: . The on-ride audio will drill this into your brain. Good day to you sir. My sister was oblivious to her impending doom. Power ringy dingy ding-a-ling ding. This is no kiddie ride. There is a fantastic out-of-control feeling on the turns and twists. Looks like a big Meccano set. After extensive testing I discovered that the far right-hand seat in the front gives the best ride. That guy probably agrees. Overbank! The world's second steepest drop by half a degree. No OTSRs. I was engaging my "death grip" on this turn. 21st best steel coaster in the world is a bit of a mouthful. Let's go with 'best in the Southern hemisphere'. Sadly it was closed all week. Must be a serious refurb. They got the sign out and everything. Maybe the mechanics will fix the dark ride effects while they're at it. This view makes me all tingly. Our heroes, each giving his best 'O' face. Still to come: Arkham Asylum. The other heroes have roller coasters, but Batman only gets a Spaceshot tower. Yep. The one from Batman Forever. What happened to Val Kilmer anyway? The Batboat, mounted on the rarely seen Bat-Trailer. Justice League logo. So there that is. They kicked dodgy animatronic Batman and his equally questionable motion simulator ride out of Wayne Manor, and built this! Found outside the Hall of Justice, this sign can display messages using multiple fonts in varying sizes. Amazing what technology is capable of these days! The hall is very pretty, but according to the TV disaster is imminent, so there's no time to dawdle and admire the theming! Just in case you forgot where you were, this is on the floor. Batman, Superman, and a busty Wonder Woman. We have strict customs laws in this country, so this machine checks to see whether you are carrying any starfish. Loading area. Cyborg is a neat animatronic. No cameras allowed on the ride, but Sally Corp have a good POV on Youtube. Another Batmobile. This time the good one from the Tim Burton films. It's been a while since this went through the Bat-wash. This tiny sign was the only indication of how to get to Arkham Asylum. No coaster here. Maybe if we keep going. Not here. Further perhaps? Found it! They've turned a dead-end, empty part of the park into a run-down section of Arkham City. Awesome theming! There is a lot of unused space in this area, perhaps that blocked-off entry ramp will be removed to make room for a flat ride in the future? Joker = best villain ever. Noted. This used to be a funhouse, but now it's full of evil clowns! So the story of this ride (according to what I could gather from the onboard audio) is that you, an inmate of Arkham Asylum, are one of the Joker's "patients". Your "treatment" involves a form of shock therapy that for all intents and purposes is very similar to riding a rollercoaster. If the treatment isn't successful, you just have to go around again! Even the rubbish bins are themed! One inmate has not realised that rubbish goes under the lid, not on top of it. Some of Superman's track supports have been repainted as well! Seriously, for a redo of an existing ride this is quite impressive! The entrance to the Asylum. Wheelchair accessible ramp on the right. Park index? Check. That guard had it coming. Some queue theming. I didn't get a pic of them, but the ride ops were dressed up as Arkham guards or Joker goons, depending on their station. Nice touch. There are patient bios in the queue to read while you line up. Although if the line was going all the way back here you would be looking at a 3 hr wait. The new trains are good but it's still not worth waiting that long for. A neat reference back to the game. Ride operations were quite slow. The park had just one ride op checking restraints, and another alternating between allowing riders into the loading area and controlling the air gates. Trains were going out every 7-8 minutes at best. Just a few pics of the track. I'm sure everyone has (or had) one of these coasters at their home park, right? I used to refer to this as "the part where I remember why I don't like Vekoma SLCs". No longer. New train and brake run. If you missed it here is a summary of my thoughts on Arkham Asylum: they took an awful ride and made it good. Great theming too. Rick's Cafe Americain offers flavours of Italy, Asia and Morocco. But, oddly enough, not America. Because that would be silly. Hollywood Stunt Driver is a somewhat generic show that hasn't changed since it's inception. It used to be the hilarious, more spectacular Police Academy Stunt Show. Unfortunately since Gen Y doesn't know what Police Academy is they had to change it. Ice Age 4D was the biggest disappointment of our visit. This used to be Shrek 4D but since Dreamworld now have the Dreamworks license it had to be changed. So I was expecting something like that. But it was terrible. The line was huge and we were kept waiting in the pre-show area for a while, and then made to watch the first ten minutes of Ice Age 3. Then we were herded into the theatre and some panicky guests started shoving because they were (needlessly) worried about getting seats. Some dude was actually pushing me in the back until I turned around and gave him my angry face. So the clip starts, and it's just a very condensed version of Ice Age 3 with some 4D effects added. Lame. Shrek has a cool pre-show and the film is unique to the attraction, this was none of that. Hogwarts won't be coming to Australia anytime soon. For now we will just have to make do with a Harry Potter shop. Spooky Coaster! Too dark inside to get any pics of the queue area but it's very well done, kind of a haunted mansion vibe. Families love this ride, which means there's a long wait. And onto the home stretch. The Wild West village takes up a huge part of the park, which is impressive given that it's home to just one ride. A family woodie would really suit this part of the park, and they have the space for it. GCI Big Fun maybe? Remember this film? Me neither. This amused me. And another. Wild West Falls is one of the better flume rides I've been on. Once again Movie World have put a lot into the theming, there is a backwards portion, a lengthy journey through a ghost town, and back up into the mountain for an explosive finish. Sploosh! You will get wet. Really, really wet. Here go another bunch of suckers. The water cannons are brutal. There is no escape from the soaking. More? OK. The water cannons are brutal. Another? Alright, last one. Down they go... The phrase "we're already wet, we may as well go again" was uttered a number of times during our visit. But our dryness decreased significantly with each additional deluge. Which was fortunate because I think my brother had forgotten to wear deodorant that day... :O I will end with my favourite "people soaking wet on a water ride" picture ever. A wonderful blend of cultures, ages and genders demonstrating that Wild West Falls does not discriminate. It just gets EVERYONE really, really, ridiculously wet. And that's the end of this update. Final part is to come, with pics from Wet 'n' Wild as well as some other random stuff from around the Gold Coast. Somewhere under that water is a boat.

Random question - are Six Flags souvenir drink bottles valid at every park, or just the one you buy them from?

There is a limit, though I don't know what it is. It must be very high, as I waited 30-45 mins for a couple of the coasters. So perhaps this is why they're upping the price? If last year's pricing led to that sort of wait in the fast lane line, then it sounds like it was too cheap or too many passes were available. I'm surprised the park doesn't have even more variation in the way they price these things. Could make it $50 or so on off-peak weekdays and then up to the $80-90 mark on peak weekends, to reflect the relative crowd levels in the park.

I totally want one of those coaster cars to use as a couch. Looks so comfy!

Fast lane pricing for 2013 is up: www.cedarpoint.com/things-to-do/fast-lane Regular Fast Lane is now $75, new 'Fast Lane Plus' option includes TTD and GateKeeper for $90 (but cheaper if you buy more than one). A similar Fast Lane Plus option will be available at Kings Island and Kings Dominion for an extra $10 as well, with The Beast, Firehawk, I305 and Volcano being exclusive. So clearly they're trying to balance the demand. Higher pricing means less people will buy one but that in turn increases the value for those who purchase the pass, which is a good thing. Best way to skip lines is still to go on a quiet day though...

My eyes hurt from all the rolling they did while I was reading that article. As if Disney aren't going to tweak the system after it goes live, to make for the best possible guest experience. What really gets me is the tone of the whole article, this attitude that demands Disney acquiesce to those suggestions simply because they are posted on a fansite. MC has some interesting stuff but they definitely enjoy a good whinge!

...you believe that park observation towers are intended solely for people to take ride construction photos and post them on TPR

Nice - looks like they are using similar trains to Jet Rescue - although themed to motorbikes rather than jetskis, of course.

A month ago. Got hit as I was backing out of a carpark. Nobody was hurt but the car lost a tail light. When was the last time you ate a mango?

I used it to grab some of the higher-priced donut items. I've shelled out enough real money on donuts that I feel OK with this. But I agree, using it to speed up everything and grab all the items would definitely take the enjoyment out of the game.

Thanks for another great trip report, Chuck. BGW is one of the parks I'm looking forward to the most when I head stateside in a couple of months, and I reckon your amusing updates have plenty to do with that!

^Looks like they are available at SFA now too: content.sixflags.com/america/tickets/memberships/ It's a good deal for sure. Not that SFA passes are terribly expensive to begin with but I'm sure for some people a few dollars a month might be easier to find than $60 or $80 in one go.