Photo TR of four Australian Parks

[capnkyle1]

Hello out there, my name is Kyle and I am an amusement park nut and long time reader (first time poster) of Theme Park Review.

 

My wife Kirsten and I decided that Australia would be a nice place for a honeymoon so we made our plans for the end of August and the beginning of September and of course factored in some time to experience some of Australia's topsy turvy action.

 

So that's the preamble.

 

Luna Park Melbourne is located in the suburb/neighborhood of St. Kilda and is about a 20 minute train ride from downtown Melbourne. You can either take the train to the nearest station about a half mile away and an easy walk to the park or the St. Kilda tram which drops you off right in front. We opted for the train so that we could see more of the neighborhood which ended up being pretty cool. The park entrance sits dramatically on the corner of several major roads and is completely encircled by the Scenic Railway.

 

The park is a touch on the pricey side as were all the Australian parks we went to with individual rides costing $8.50 and an unlimited ride pass going for $40. We bought three tickets, two for both of us to ride the Scenic Railway and one for me to ride Metropolis - their other adult roller coaster. I was also eyeing the Ghost Train ride but did not end up riding it.

 

As soon as we got in line for Scenic Railway it went down and then shortly after that but unrelated to that fact it began to rain. So we hunkered down in the covered queue to wait out the storm and after about 45 minutes the storm passed and the mechanics fixed whatever was wrong with the coaster.

 

This was our first experience with a roller coaster with a riding brakeman so naturally we opted for the seat in the middle of the train where all that braking action was happening. We wanted to chat with him and he said a few things to us but we did not actually converse since there were signs everywhere sternly warning us that talking to the operator was a big no-no. He did apologize to us when he hit the brake a little too hard on the second to last turn and we crawled through the last portion of the course.

 

The ride itself was a lot of fun with great views of downtown Melbourne and the harbor and there was some airtime to be had too although if you're tall and/or big you will not be able to fit. I'm 6' even and I had to do some contorting of my legs and scrunching of my butt to fit and my knees took a lot of abuse.

 

Metropolis was a standard SDC Galaxy with the great first two drops and the double helices. I really liked the name though for some reason. The rest of the park was similar to other seaside parks like Coney Island or places on the Jersey shore although it was all contained by the Scenic Railway.

 

I believe we spent all of an hour and a half here before wandering around St. Kilda for dinner and beer. Picture time!

And with that, we were spat back out into St. Kilda, gooey and giddy from our first antipodean amusement park adventure. Stay tuned for parts two, three, and four!

As was their ferris wheel with paratrooper gondolas.

Their carousel was very attractive and slightly out of focus.

Number 210! Yay me!

As you can see, I have my awesome Eddie Bauer backpack on! I have had that backpack for 15 years! It got me through high school and college! Its name is Clarence.

Unlike other swirling actions in Australia, this one goes in the more familiar direction.

Hi , my name is Kyle and this is my first trip report! If you think it's good, thank you! If you think it's bad, well then you should see the pants I bought last weekend!

They also have Metropolis, which is where Superman works.

Spiderhead, Spiderhead, does whatever a spiderhead does.

Yes, in order to ride the Ghost Train you must devoured AGAIN! These are the rules and they're for your own good!

There is the Ghost Train to appease your ghostly wants. I declined to ride this and that was silly of me.

There are bumper cars with a fancy cityscape behind them.

Well they have this little contraption.

Well that was fun and exciting and scenic! What else do we have here?

How scandalous! Avert your eyes!

The third and sixth turn on Scenic Railway. The view of the harbor from here is quite. . . scenic.

The second and fifth turns on Scenic Railway. The roller coaster surrounds the park like the lining of the Giant Moon Man's stomach.

The first turn on the Scenic Railway. There is an excellent view of downtown Melbourne from up here.

Fun with murals and old fashioned trains not found in America!

Ahhh, the big reason I'm here. Why are you here? Are you here for the same reason I'm here? Do you want to be friends?

Clang Clang goes the trolley in the Giant Moon Man's stomach. Next stop, Duodenum Station!

This is what it looks like in the stomach of the Giant Moon Man.

To enter Luna Park you have to survive the ordeal of being devoured by the giant Moon Man.

I spy a roller coaster!

[John Peck]

Is it me, or are all of the arms on that spider lowered at the same time?

 

It looks like an Eyerly, but you can only load two arms (4 tubs) at one time on the spiders... unless this is a in-house modification.

 

That ferris wheel is neat, too!

[PKI Jizzman]

Please keep the photos coming! I'd love to see how Dreamworld and Movie World are doing. I miss Australia!

 

-Zach

[brilinjo]

Hi Kyle, I like your style.

 

Enough of the rhyming.

 

Great first post. I really enjoyed part I, looking forward to parts II, III & IV.

 

Brian

[downunder]

Great trip report Kyle, it's a shame I've been to Melbourne more than once and have never been to Luna Park - your directions might prove handy if I ever do manage to get down there.

 

I didn't even know their Scenic Railway had a brakeman, those coasters can really crank up when the brakeman lays off the brakes which they don't normally do for fear of derailing the train unfortunately.

 

Looking forward to your upcoming reports.

[CreditCrazy]

Nice trip report! Looking forward to seeing the rest. Australia definitely has some interesting coasters that sadly never seem to get much attention.

[gisco]

Nice trip report. It is always good to see parks that are a little bit hard to visit for most of us. Glad to see you post this and look forward to seeing the other 3 parks. I have already put this report in the TPR Park Index. I would like to see you submit some of your photos of the coasters too. There is a link to do that at the bottom of the Park Index Page.

 

Bob

[christianscoasters]

Great job so far.

I'm excited to see the rest.

My mom and I are going to Australia in a couple of years. It was going to be next year, but we decided to take a couple "mini-vacations" next summer. (LA, NY, etc. Hey, with $29 one-way fares, you can't beat that!) When we're there, we're hitting up Sea World, Dream World, and Movie World. I'm excited

[stuartnz]

That Luna Park entrance is even scarier than the Sydney one.

Looking forward to the rest of your pictures!

[capnkyle1]

Thanks for the comments everyone, sorry it took me awhile to get back to this.

 

The second park we checked out was Luna Park in Sydney. We had originally planned to go at night to take advantage of some of the great views across the harbor and to enjoy an evening stroll across the Harbor Bridge. However, distances are very deceiving and making the walk from downtown Sydney requires some backtracking to get on and off the bridge. Hence we arrived too late to ride anything but we did get to enjoy the lights of the midway and the view across the harbor. The location really is fantastic.

 

Fortunately we had enough time the next day to go and do the park properly and this time we took the train which ended up being far far quicker. Luna Park charges $10 per ride and has a couple of ride pass packages. Unlimited rides on the Go Wild pass are $40 or $45 depending on when you go but we went with the Go Silly pass which was $30 (can be $35 depending on the day) which gets you into Coney Island, on the ferris wheel, wild mouse, carousel, and dodgem which was pretty much what we were interested in. We ended up being at Luna Park on Australian Father's Day so the place was pretty busy with families and young children.

 

Luna Park occupies a long, narrow strip of land on the shores of the Harbor below a bluff on which a row of tall apartment towers were located. I couldn't imagine how nice the views were from up there, looking down on the park and across the harbor at central Sydney. The park is bisected by the Coney Island funhouse with the back half seeming to be relegated to more modern rides and sparse decor. Nothing back there interested us so we never ventured beyond Coney Island. The front half was classic seaside park with funky architecture and lots and lots of lights.

 

The Wild Mouse was fun and was built on top of a building so it was quite difficult to photograph. It was also our first wooden wild mouse. It features inline seating so with two adults in there it was pretty snug and we took a few bumps on the hairpin turns which seemed more violent than on today's wild mice.

 

We also checked out their old style funhouse which led you through a long corridor filled with classic gags like shifting floors and curvy mirrors. The corridor leads you into the large central room where you have free reign to try the rotating barrels, mirror maze, more shifting floors, big slides, and a social mixer. We had a great time on everything but the social mixer which seemed to be for children only. The slides were fast and steep and the barrel took some skin off my elbow. We spent about an hour in Coney Island before heading out.

 

On our way out we took a ride on the Ferris Wheel where some kid cut his way through line and forced his way onto our gondola and the ride ops sent us off despite our protestations. The entire time he yelled down to his PaPAA down on the midway. Kirsten, my wife, was none too pleased.

 

Overall, Luna Park was very cool with great atmosphere and location, however they do kinda need a headliner attraction as the park has a sort of incomplete feel or rather a feeling that something has gone missing. Definitely worth an hour or so if you're in downtown Sydney and can escape across the Harbor for awhile.

 

And on with the pictures!

AGGGGHHHHH!!! WHERE!!!????!!!

PaPAA!! PaPAA!!! Hey! PaPAA!! Up here PaPAA! PaPAA!! Lookit PaPAA!! PaPAA! Watch me! PaPAA! PaPAA!

 

Ugggh, And on that note, I bid you adieu and from Dreamworld I will broadcast next.

Uh. . . you seem. . . upset. Is something bothering you? Is there something in this gondola that isn't agreeing with you?

What a nice day, isn't this great honey?

It sure is pretty up here

From the Ferris Wheel you can get a great view of the Harbor.

Just like my headless hot disco woman. The only thing she misses is bacon!

Luna Park recycles! This is very green of them.

Wheeeeeee!

Here are the elbow skin eating barrels and the slides of certain steepness.

Here is a rather dark photo of the interior of Coney Island. If you squint, you can see the children piling onto the Social Mixer.

This one is not playing today.

Oh yeah, that's a nasty mouse we've found. It'll bruise your clavicle if you aren't careful!

Wild Mouse alert. We have a confirmed Wild Mouse sighting!

Oh so that's what the Moon Man is looking at. Well I can't blame him, I'd spend my days looking at that too. So pretty. . . must. . . snap. . . out of it. . .

Geez, chill out dudes, we'll come back tomorrow and show you!

WHERE!!!???

Oh and look! They still have the neon sign from when the Big Dipper was here!

Where!?

Oh and look at Coney Island, it's amazing!

Where?

Ooooh look! They have a pretty Rotor!

It's awfully colorful here! Let's check this place out.

I wonder what he's looking at.

Welcome to Luna Park Sydney! They have a big Moon Man entrance too. Again with the devouring. . .

[downunder]

Another nice report.

 

It's a shame because this could be an amazing park but problems with residents (lots of lawsuits) have prevented them developing the park. There was an arrow looper there (now at Dreamworld) but residents closed it and eventually closed the previous incarnation of the park which was 100% amusement park rather than the mix they have now of entertainment and function venues.

 

This is the most coveted piece of land in Sydney to developers so there is constant pressure on the government to hand the land over for high rises.

 

The orginal incarnation of Luna Park, which closed in 1979, was a lot like a mini Blackpool.

[odene497]

I've greatly enjoyed these pictures, and you're sense of humor! I want to go someplace with crazy random slides.

[Paul_Hollibone]

Its always nice to see our parks through international folks eyes.

 

Between Luna Park Melbourne and Sydney, which was your favourite out of the two? I actually prefer Sydney as it does have a better setting, and its mostly better presented, but a decent new attraction wouldnt go astray either.

 

That neon sign for the Big Dipper though is the sign for the Arrow coaster they had, which is now the Cyclone at Dreamworld. It used to travel through it.

The Arrow coaster though was a replacment for a wooden coaster that they once had (both luna parks had a wooden dipper). However they were unfortunatly torn down, the Sydney one sustained some damage from a Ghost Train fire, which was right underneath the ride. Several people died in that fire.

 

Anyway, enjoying your TR so far, am looking forward to your opinions on Dreamworld and Movie World.

[Ed]

I miss Sydney! It's such a shame Luna Park gets stick from local residents. The location is stunning and perfect for a small park.

[Moose]

Great report. Fun captions.

 

I actually love the somewhat creepy, but very unique park entrances.

 

Thank you for posting this.

[capnkyle1]

Thanks for the compliments everyone!

 

Paul, I had to really wrestle with which Luna Park was my favorite and I think I'd give the nod to Melbourne only on the basis that they have more and better rides. The setting for both is pretty spectacular with Sydney's on the harbor and Melbourne's on the beach. The architecture of the Sydney park is a bit more complete though as the Melbourne park is a touch spotty. With proper community support though, I could very easily see Luna Park Sydney becoming really incredible.

 

Back to the original programming though and we now pick up where we left off, dear Readers. Eventually the honeymoon took us to Brisbane so we set aside a day to go to Dreamworld and Movie World. That's right, we did them both in one day. Thanks to the magic of public transportation and the fact that the parks are at most three miles apart makes it easy enough to do both parks. However, you do have to be a bit lucky with crowds as both parks like one train ops. We had good luck with Movie World but Dreamworld was a bit too crowded for their operations.

 

So if anyone else wants to attempt a two-fer from Brisbane, here's how you do it. Wake up at an early hour and get yourself onto the Robina Line on their public commuter trains. Be sure to check the timetables to make sure you're going to arrive prior to park opening because you'll need all the time you can get. The train ride is about an hour which gives you plenty of time to nap or stare out the window watching for kangaroos. To go to Dreamworld first, you get off at the Coomera Station and take the TX5 bus to Dreamworld. After noon, the TX5 begins running about hourly from Dreamworld to Movie World so you can time when you need to leave. Again, pick up a timetable as both parks close at 6 so if you want to hit the other park you need to plan accordingly. Finally, when you leave Movie World, you take the TX5 bus again to the Helensvale Station for the ride back to Brisbane. We also highly recommend Brisbane - very underrated city with great food and a nice atmosphere downtown.

 

You can buy the park admission tickets ahead of time at the train station along with the train tickets. All told, with the two park admissions of $60 apiece and the train tickets and bus tickets the total cost for the two of us was $315 Australian although they did have significant discounts for locals.

 

Whew! Alright, so Dreamworld was okay. When we arrived 30 minutes prior to park opening there was already a pretty sizeable crowd and an announcement that the Tower of Terror would not be running today. Not off to a good start! They let us in at 10 and we went over to Cyclone (the old Big Dipper from Luna Park Sydney). I think it has been mentioned before on TPR but I do not understand what they're doing with their queue! It's very clear that they've reversed it that you wait in the old exit line where you walk up the outside of the silo building and then are stopped while the exit crosses in front of you. Once the exiting riders clear the area then you are grouped into a holding area. Eventually the doors open and you are allowed into the station.

 

The ride is an Arrow from that short period of time where they started creating some twisted designs with their new trains and as expected it was pretty rough. Nothing too bad though, we've both ridden much worse but the ride was rather average. The S-curve was nice and the ending loop was nice and tight with some intense g-forces to end the ride but. . . once was enough.

 

After the ride you cross the waiting passengers and walk into the silo building and spiral down the old queue which is under cover and is air conditioned and themed. It just doesn't make sense! At least I think it's the old queue. Otherwise I really don't get it!

 

Then we strolled over to Mick Doohan's Motocoaster and walked right on. This was the second best ride at Dreamworld and had a fun, tire driven launch that was gentle enough that everyone could enjoy it. The rest of the course seemed to resemble the Intamin rocket coaster layouts in Europe and was a lot of fun to be twisting around in those figure eights in motorcycle cars. We briefly thought about reriding but decided to try to get in the other rides first. We never did make it back here.

 

We also watched the tigers for a bit, rode Rugrats Runaway Reptar (same as the US models), and I rode the Giant Drop. Kirsten chickened. Giant Drop was quite impressive! I was on the side that faced east and once I got myself to relax enough to look around I found that I could see the towers of Surfers Paradise off in the distance and I could also make out the Pacific Ocean! The ride is really freakin tall! They also let you sit up there a good long time as well. The drop also seems to last a good three seconds longer than any other drop I've done. That might be an exaggeration but it was still the best ride that I rode at Dreamworld.

 

After that we tried to get a ride on the log ride which looked like it was pretty good but the line moved maybe 5 feet in 30 minutes so we bailed and made a quick run through the zoo side of the park and checked out the animals before catching the first bus over to Movie World. Dreamworld has a very nice collection of Australian animals. We liked petting the kangaroos and seeing the saltwater crocodiles, dingos, tasmanian devils, koalas, and cassowaries. We also walked past the tigers again as we were leaving.

 

The bus picked us up fairly promptly and it was a quick jaunt over to Movie World but I'll save that for later. For now, enjoy these pictures of Dreamworld.

Hi, I'm a kangaroo, before you go off to Movie World, please take me out for a spin.

 

And with that, we're off, tune in next week for the exciting conclusion!

Before you go, you should know that you should never attempt to pet a kangaroo, instead you should attempt to drive them.

The koalas seemed to have grown in number since we last looked at them.

If you don't eat your green beans, I'll eat them! I'm a tasmanian devil, by the way. There are some who call me. . . Hobart.

Okay, apology accepted. Also, will you eat your green beans?

See, you made the wombat go hide.

 

I'm sorry Mr. Wombat, please come back out.

Ahem, I don't approve.

The Educational Bilby sign goes, "hump hump."

The dingoes go "bark bark."

The saltwater crocodiles go "chomp chomp, death roll."

The koalas go "chew chew, grunt grunt."

I thought not. Now here we can see the train. The train goes "chugga chugga choo choo!"

See? Here I am waiting in line for Giant Drop, what do you think about that Mr. Tower of Terror?

 

No sir, I don't like it. . .

. . . I think I'll go ride his conjoined twin, Giant Drop! That'll show him.

Ha ha ha! You didn't eat your green beans!

 

Man, I'm really starting to hate that guy. . .

Hi, I'm a sad little coaster that no one gets to ride on anymore. Perhaps someday I'll be allowed to give rides again.

It's so rustic!

Why thank you, this looks very pleasant!

Welcome to the western side, pardner, I mean, mate.

No, it's too early for lunch Mr. Ibis. I think we're going to go to the western side of the park now.

I say, that is a peculiar tangent you just got off on there, sir. Unless you're going to have lunch now. Are you? May I have some of your lunch when you're finished? I'll be patient and quiet. I'm an ibis by the way.

Does this picture following the previous two make you say, "Ewwww"?

How about this one?

Does this picture of water make you need to pee?

And even if I'm not, you can still admire my green and orange paint job.

 

It certainly is sharp, Reptar.

No! Me! Reptar! You can ride me. Come on. . . I'm fun!

What? The Spooty Spin in the mountain? That looks fun.

You can come ride me. . .

Ha ha! I guard the entrance to Tower of Terror and you can't ride it today! Perhaps next time you'll eat all your green beans, right?

I wonder what is down this attractive looking path.

Pssst. Down here. Hi, I'm a water dragon and I suggest you hide from the tigers here in the bushes like me.

Mmmmmm tree. I love tree. Hey. Hey! This is MY tree! Got it? I'm bigger than you. Hey! You with the camera. . .

It is themed to motorcycles/dirt bikes.

Mick Doohan's Motocoaster was a zippy little fun ride.

You better shape up or it will be the CLAW for you! Scrape Scrape Gouge Gouge.

But I should like my wife to go first. Ha ha! OW! Alright, I suppose I deserved to be punched in the arm for that. . . I love you, honey.

Unfortunately that was the only photographic footage I got of the Cyclone. I choose to be devoured by that shark as my punishment.

Now that you have ridden Cyclone, what do you think of our impressively themed exit? Wouldn't you have rather waited in this? Ha ha ha! Well too bad!

Why yes! I would like to ride a cyclone please!

Welcome to the surfing themed area. Would you like to ride a violent weather phenomena?

There are rides down this path somewhere.

Welcome to Dreamworld, you will not be going 100 miles per hour here today because you didn't finish your green beans last night.

[Paul_Hollibone]

Seems that you had a decent day at Dreamworld.

Yeah, you used to queue on the inside of the Cyclone, then exit on the outside. That all changed though shortly after WhiteWater World opened up, I suppose it had something to do with selling park upgrades. But it's much better now, I remember waiting over an hour inside when the ride first opened, and boy was that boring. As the ride only has 1 train it moved so slowly it wasn't funny. At least now you have something to look at whilst you wait.

 

So did you end up riding any of the flats like the Claw and Wipeout? Great rides they are.

 

So, now begs the question, Dreamworld or Movie World as a whole?

For me, Dreamworld's my favourite (despite contrary belief). I've always loved Dreamworld, sure it's looking a little on the rough edges these days, but it's still a good park (and as a park I believe it's the best on the Gold Coast). Movie World is alright, but the thing with the place is that it not only has 1 an annoying atmosphere, but secondly it only has about 2 good rides that I go there to ride.

For a movie park, it is very lacklustre at the moment.

[snorkymn]

Great trip report Kyle, it's a shame I've been to Melbourne more than once and have never been to Luna Park - your directions might prove handy if I ever do manage to get down there.

 

Brent, you've been to more U.S. parks than most but not one in your own country?!? Shame, shame!

[Electerik]

Great job with this. I'm really enjoying it.

 

Thanks for posting!

[capnkyle1]

Paul,

 

I'm not much into the spinning flat rides so no Claw or Wipeout for me. But one of these days I told myself I will get on one of those top spins, it just hasn't happened yet. We did want to ride a few other rides like the log flume and the rapids ride but due to our time constraints, couldn't swing it.

 

I didn't think about the boredom factor for the enclosed queue of the Cyclone. I can't imagine how frustrating that wait would be when the park got really crowded.

 

I guess holistically I liked the atmosphere of Dreamworld better and there was definitely a lot more to look at and round out the day but some of the operations were really odd and the park seemed to have a lot of tourists of an "offensive persuasion" when we were there. I don't know if that is typical or not though. We managed to get more done at Movie World and their theming efforts were very impressive but we definitely didn't need more than a half day there while we could have filled an entire day at Dreamworld.

 

They're both worth a trip.

[capnkyle1]

And so now we begin part four of four for the Australian parks. After leaving Dreamworld, we took the TX5 bus to Warner Brothers Movie World which was about five minutes away. There was some confusion at the gate as the ticket we bought from the train station in Brisbane was actually only a voucher and had to be exchanged at the ticket booths for a real ticket. But once we sorted that out in we went. The entrance is kind of strange because there is a big plaza with the Batman themed rides to the left, Superman straight ahead, and then the Main Street and the rest of the park goes off to the right.

 

Kirsten went off to get some lunch while I went to ride Lethal Weapon. This ride is brutal. I don't think I've ridden a roller coaster rougher than this one. The theming is incredible, it has a bonus helix, and a great footchopper moment on inversion number three against a parking structure but aside from those nice extras, they couldn't save this ride from going right down to the bottom of my list.

 

Lunch was hot dogs and chicken fingers from the restaurant in the western themed area. Somewhat expensive, it wasn't unreasonably priced and tasted decent.

 

The park has four areas. There is the superheroes area up at the front entrance and the main street area which is covered by an expansive roof. Then there is also the western area and the Looney Tunes land and with the exception of the Looney Tunes area, the park walkways are very spacious and it never felt crowded.

 

After lunch we first rode Scooby Doo Spooky Coaster which actually ended up being our favorite coaster of the trip. The theming of the queue was excellent and the dark ride portion of the beginning of the ride was a lot of fun and the actual ride was a lot of fun and had some great thrills. Probably the best indoor mouse I've ridden - right up there with Exterminator. They really kept the line moving on this as well.

 

After that we went back up front to ride Superman Escape. This was Kirsten's 100th coaster. As you might know it's themed to a subway train that gets caught in an earthquake. There are some nice stunts to see as you go through the dark ride portion at the beginning. Collapsing ceilings, flooding, cars crashing through walls. Finally Superman tells you he's going to get you out and that's when you get launched out and into the coaster portion of the ride which was great fun, very thrilling, four spots of great airtime and three high G turns yet not quite as satisfying as Scooby Doo was as an overall ride. Definitely number two on the trip though! I would note that the ride ops are VERY anal about nothing coming on the ride. Before they allow riders into the station, everyone is interrogated individually about what they have in their pockets. They don't frisk you physically but they do make you turn your pockets inside out and it doesn't matter if they button or zip up. They were even making people remove hankies, kleenex, necklaces, pretty much everything. I'm not sure what prompted the need to have pocket police patrolling this ride but it was incredibly irritating and greatly detracted from the ride. For the locals, is this usual practice for Superman?

 

From Superman we went to ride the Wild West Falls - the park's log flume. This was set in a very impressive mountain tableau rivaling Big Thunder Mountain. There was absolutely no line and we walked right on. The boats are the newer style 8 or 10 passenger two abreast set ups similar to the systems at Dollywood and Six Flags America. It has two large drops, a few surprises, projections of devious prospectors, and a float through a ghost town complete with an unseen gunfight. This was a great log flume with a very thrilling and wet drop. We liked it so much we went for another ride immediately after our first.

 

We hadn't ventured over to the Looney Tunes side of the park yet so we went to check that out next. This area was a bit more crowded but seemed to be well thought out and seemed to be a great kid's area. We went for a ride on the Looney Tunes River Ride which turned out to be a lot of fun. The premise seemed to be a hunt for Bugs Bunny as he went AWOL down in Australia from a movie shoot in Hollywood. Part Old Mill, Part Pirates of the Carribean it features a gently thilling end that was a nice little touch. We liked it.

 

Next to the River Adventure was the Road Runner Rollercoaster. A standard Vekoma Roller Skater set in a nice canyon environment. It was fun. Also, no line strangely enough.

 

Finally we we went back up to the superhero section part of the park with a detour to take another spin on Scooby Doo. We checked out the Batman Adventure and skipped the spaceshot Batwing. The theming of the preshows of the Batman Adventure were also incredible. The first takes place in Bruce Wayne's library where everyone is made a cadet in the police force but then some funky nonsense goes down and we are escorted through a secret passage into the batcave where we're briefed on our mission involving hovercrafts. Finally we're escorted into the hovercrafts (simulators) and go for a CGI romp through Gotham City busting the bad guys. The simulators were a little on the lame side but the preshows were worth the short wait.

 

After our success with Gotham City I made another trip on Metropolis' train system. Kirsten didn't ride again because she was still irked with the pocket police. We ended the day with the Shrek 4D show (the Stunt Driver Show wasn't open that day but it occupies a huge area of land and would have been cool to see). The show was fun and had all of the usual 4D gags and was very amusing.

 

When the show let out it was after the 5:30 cutoff for the park to start shutting down the rides in order to get everyone out by 6. We took our time getting out because we had some time to kill before the bus came by to take us to the Helensvale station for the train back to Brisbane. It was a solid day and we had a great time at Movie World. A half day with moderate to light crowds seemed to be the perfect amount of time to see this park. Perhaps it could be combined with the Wet n Wild waterpark next door to have a complete day. Aside from Lethal Weapon and the pocket police on Superman this was a great park.

Hey! Don't be looking at my white panties!

 

And with that, we conclude our amusement adventures in Australia. Until next time. . . .

Well we've got some time to kill let's sit here and watch these birds show off their white panties.

And finally, here's Shrek's 4D show. It was fun. Now let's go catch the bus to the train station to catch the train back to Brisbane shall we?

And here is a blurry photo of Bruce Wayne's library before I was made a deputy in Gotham City.

So we rode it and it was true, I did completely forget about the arms in the video and in fact, I completely forgot about taking any photos of Looney Tunes World. But I did take a photo of the batmobile.

Nope. Sorry. Just a log ride. But it's a really good log ride, perhaps you'll forget about the arms you saw in the Escape Club video from the 80s if you ride it?

She's so mean but I don't care, I love her eyes and her wild wild hair. Dance to the beat that we love best, heading for the nineties, livin in the wild wild west.

 

Perhaps we can find some of those disembodied arms with hands at both ends that hover in the air here!

It was also Kirsten's 100th, not number one as she seems to be indicating here. She just doesn't have three hands and we didn't have a blank sheet of paper and a sharpie.

And holes.

Climbs and dives (I see you Batwing!).

It has humps.

Superman was next. It go fast.

Oh this is gonna be fun!

. . . darkness falls across the land, the midnight hour is close at hand, creatures crawl in search of blood, to terrorize. . . what? Oh, this is Scooby Doo? Well I'm really very sorry. I thought this was something else entirely!

Enough of this negative torture nonsense! Let's ride something fun! Like whatever happens to be in this spooky looking exterior!

The depressing industrial tone should prepare you for the physical torture you shall soon be subjected to at the hands of the Lethal Weapon.

 

That is, if the Lethal Weapon has hands. It's sort of a figurative thing. I suppose it's more wheels and rails and general vekoma malaise that lingers over you.

 

Mmmmmm malaise. . .

So apparently you find lethal weapons in abandoned body shops with rusting wrecks stacked three high.

Ah ha! Juth ath I thuthpected!

There's gotta be a roller coaster around here somewhere!

Time to ride Lethal Weapon. The sign indicated that it would be down this alley. Hmmm, if this were in a real city I'd feel I was trespassing.

Okay, so I'm not sure how to work my way out of that plot line so perhaps I'll just ignore and show you some pictures of ride entrances.

 

Like this one!

I think I need to sit down. . .

American flags everywhere I turn!

Look. . . there's a buffet. Maybe I AM back in America. . .

Well I'm pretty sure we were in Australia just a little while ago. . . I don't understand. Things are so blurry. I'm starting to feel woozy. . .

Just a minute just a minute just a minute! Where are we again?

Welcome to Warner Brothers Movie World where we've just put up this canopy to keep that pesky sunshine out!

[Noxegon]

I'm not a local, but I remember the same pocket police thing in Australian parks in general. Removing tissues from zipped pockets does seem more than a little anal...

[brilinjo]

I went to ride Lethal Weapon. This ride is brutal. I don't think I've ridden a roller coaster rougher than this one.

 

Agree

 

Scooby Doo Spooky Coaster which actually ended up being our favorite coaster of the trip. The theming of the queue was excellent and the dark ride portion of the beginning of the ride was a lot of fun and the actual ride was a lot of fun and had some great thrills

 

Agree x 2

[Gav]

It's funny, the strictness of Superman's loose item policy has been a point of contention since the ride first opened. I think this combined with the fact it was the first ride here to have a US park style loc ker policy did irk a few people.

[PKI Jizzman]

Scooby Doo for the win!!!! that ride ROCKS.