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That really sucks. I know he's had his health worries for a while now but doesn't make it suck any less. I've been thinking a lot about DW's history lately, and one thing that has occurred to me is how rough calling his DW a 'Disney knock off' is. I'm sure I've even been guilty of making that point somewhere in the past. It's true that the influence is there to see, from building designs to the Paddle Steamer to the Matterhorn with a ride in it, to the animatronic animal show to so much else. It's there and it's not a secret. He wasn't alone in it; there are a lot Disney knock offs out there The thing about John though, is he studied it understood why it worked, and took that understanding to make his own totally different and unique thing. Look at all those Disney knock offs that have sprung up in Asia (or even the entire Chinese amusement industry as a whole) and tell me the people behind them understand what makes a park good. John not only understood why Disney worked, but was able to craft it into something else entirely, an Australiana version, that was really charming and amazingly good. That's an effort, I don't think there's any one else that could have done it. There are a million other things he did, but that will always be the one that made the most impact on my life, RIP mate, see if you can book a chat with Walt while you're up there.

I had the opportunity to ride Big Dipper 3.0 yesterday multiple times. Firstly; Wow! This coaster is great and is exactly what Luna Park Sydney has needed in the last couple of years. It packs a punch, provides a spectacular view of Sydney, has some incredible elements and its pacing is spot on from start to finish. It is easily the best thrill attraction in the park by a country mile (understandably) and I'd comfortably place it fairly close to Jet Rescue in coaster rankings. Going through the entire experience, the queue definitely sets expectations fairly low. Besides the nice murals during the stairs at the start and the old Big Dipper 1.0 coaster train, it is not a nice queue. You climb the aforementioned mural stair cases until you reach the cement platform that tumble bug used to reside on where you now have the option to go right into Foyeur 2 at the big top or straight forward towards Big Dipper. At this point you can you see the holding area for the second train which is interesting considering it's so close you could touch it (and has no covering which is kind of interesting considering how harsh the Australia sun can be) but surrounding the ride footprint are chain wire fences covered in custom fence mesh graphics which combined with the metal staircases and unpainted aluminium railings makes it look like a construction site. As you make your way up these stairs and start to realise that this attraction is not at all disability friendly, you come to the controversial metal archway bridge. Legitimately this feels like something you expect to see in a prison and it was not uncommon to hear 'dead man walking' from our group as we meandered over the bridge. You do get an interesting vantage overlooking the attraction but its definitely not nice looking and once again all feels incredibly temporary. From here you make your way down from the metal bridge into a small cattle pen that uses similar decking to what we've seen behind the park in Luna Land surrounded by further chain wire fences with custom fence mesh graphics on them. These graphics show the different iterations of Big Dipper through history which is neat but once again it feels like it should be temporary. To help assist with the guest movement they use small modular metal fences which were neatly organised at the start of the day but progressively got shoved into the corner of the cattle pen as the night went on but thankfully all guests were respectful of the queue. There is now one final ramp you ascend before the attraction and then you're ready to board! The line honestly moves fairly quickly so thankfully you're not stuck out in the open for too long. The longest we waited was around 10-15 minutes which isn't bad for the parks premier attraction. This is assisted by the fact that they make sure to stage guests as the coaster is cycling which helps to increase flow. Keep in mind that there was only one train running all day. Once you ascend the ramp you're now greeted to the station which is incredibly barebones and, considering the height, doesn't even provide a good vantage of the park because the station is almost entirely surrounded by solid walls. Instead you get a good vantage of the coaster, expect for the non-inverting loop, which helps to hype you up as you see other riders soaring around. The ride cycle is roughly 30-40 seconds so it's not longer before the next group is back and as they disembark you're ready for your own journey. Before you get harnessed in you must drop off all your loose belongings but there are no lookers are anything provided except for some coloured tubs which still had the labels on them from where they were purchased. They are red and blue which mirrors the ride vehicles but they honestly looked really tacky. Sit down, cross your arms and the second ride operator will lower the harness for you. Nobody in our group had a problem with the seat or harness and I found it to be rather comfortable! Though no time to think because before you know it the ride is moving. The first little jolt out of the station is a friendly introduction to the movement of the attraction, before it cranks things up to eleven and you hit the second launch and soar into the non-inverting loop. You don't have a lot of time to think here but the view that you get is spectacular! The forces placed on you through all the elements (on average. I'll get to this later) are strong but not uncomfortable, and you constantly find yourself surprised by how much a punch this coaster is packing. As you leave the non-inverting loop you now enter the mess of track surrounding the queue area and you fly through this area. Even riding it near five times I found it difficult to anticipate where the coaster was going next because it trashes you from left to right and even, at one point, upside down. I'm often not a fan of corkscrew like elements but whatever element is right at the end is really fun! And, before you know it, the journey is over and you hit the brake run. This is the area where people have their little 'woohoo!' moment as the train coasts into the station and you get ready to disembark. They make you keep your head back and cross your arms during this point because once the harness releases it springs up with some extreme force. I almost saw a kid get their nose clobbered because despite holding the position for a little while, right at the last second they turned around to see their friends reaction and the restraint grazed their face. I will not be surprised if this gives somebody a bloody nose one day. Gather your belongings, exit to the right, descend the stairs and check out your photo! The experience of Big Dipper is over. Overall here are my takeaways that I can't figure out how to put into a proper sentence structure: It is an incredible coaster presented fairly poorly. It does not feel like the parks premier attraction considering the queue and presentation, but it sure does feel like it when you're on-board. The ride has 'personality' and it changes through the day and where you sit. My first ride was at the back and it is VERY rough! Then our next three rides as a group were at the front and it was spectacular. Though our final ride before park close was at the front and suddenly now the front was rough and it made me feel rather unwell. If you get the choice, ride as close to the front as possible. Usually I'd say the opposite for most launched attractions but this is the exception. Somebody in our group predicted it had to do with the wheel sizes differing from front to back. Hopefully it doesn't degrade with age and operation. It goes down a lot. There were several times the ride simply was not running for whatever reason and one of those times it appeared that the train got stuck on the brake run and the guests needed to be evacuated. On top of this the ride also did not open until around midday. Operations was pretty good all day except for the end of the night where the ride operated announced shortly towards ten o'clock that they were only doing two more rides and those towards the back of the line would miss out. It came out of nowhere and everybody was really shocked. You need to manage guests expectations in this instance as the last experience of the night should not be them getting kicked out of a line that they've already waited 10-15 minutes in. The park needs an announcement an hour before close telling guests to get their final rides in and that they cannot guarantee that guests in queue will not be able to experience the attractions close to closing time. I hope that some time within the next 12-18 months that they attraction goes down for an extended period of time to improve the queue. It just isn't good and is bad show. If this is not temporary than I will be extremely disappointed as no amount of cutesy paintings will fix this and its polarising compared to the vibrant and colourful park down below. I'm surprised the second train was not running. It was not busy but you would think that they'd want to take the opportunity to get operators used to cycling two trains as much as possible so that they don't panic when crowds return. I can predict that as COVID eases this ride will become more popular and the operations we saw were good, but would struggle under standard school holiday crowds. I would argue that is easily one of the most unique coasters in the world. No where else can you soar through an iconic skyline on such a unique type of roller coaster. Seeing the harbour bridge and the city fly around your vision as you thrash through the coaster course is very memorable and makes the experience extra special. If Luna Park Sydney is listening; I want more things like this! You've got plenty of flat rides and now I'd love to see more future additions like this coaster. I have no idea where you'd put them, but at this stage it seems like your only choice is more custom designed coasters considering space limitations. I love how you can see this coaster from so many different angles. There are certain vantages obstructed by Coney Island, but otherwise you've got clear vision on almost all parts of the ride and its great to just sit and watch. It's got an amazing roar! It doesn't carry a lot which is nice for residents, but when you're nearby it really lets you know that it is there. That's all I can think of for now. I know it's a lot but TL;DR I really liked it but it's presentation is weak.

You know how I said that John didn't just do what Disney did, he understood why? Adding a statue is literally just doing something Disney do without really understanding why. Given John's public statements of what he thinks of the park nowadays, I don't think them adding a statue is quite the grand gesture you think it is.

Come on DW.....time now for a statue of John at the entry please 👍

As for the travel and something you need to factor in, is if you happen to test positive to Covid on your pre-departure PCR you have to be prepared to isolate for 14 days before you fly home. Obviously this is worst case scenario but a factor none the less. As for the parks yourself - I’ve done it and it’s great.

Every now and then I pop back on here. Yes years later, to see if there's any new info! Thanks for the very kind words!! There was just something about it as you know that was hugely captivating. All this time later I still can't get it out of my head!! I so wish I could see it again, or even a picture of the actual maze entrance etc. There's now a Lost Amusement Parks of Aistralua at Facebook I might try there:) Hope you are well Penny!

Yeah I've done them solo. You can get more done because you can go at your own pace, use single rider, stop when you are tired or keep on going, dont have to wait for others. It's more fun with other people but Disney is still great solo.

I solo travel to parks all the time, happy to answer any questions. It's getting easier and easier. I recommend getting pants/shorts with packets that zip up, that way you can usually carry what you need with you on rides including coasters without too many issues. Now that you can put your credit/debit cards into your phone for contactless payments I can now usually visit a park with just my phone (Any hotel keycard in the case).

I've done part days by myself and enjoyed them. I'm also not a solo traveller as a rule so if you are, if say go for it!

I have a friend who has recently come back from a trip stateside. They were cautious but still enjoyed the trip. It's not really for anyone to judge as far as whether its a 'smart move' - you just need to be sure you set your expectations accordingly. If your bookings are insured or otherwise assured in case of shutdown or other pandemic related interruption, or you are willing to accept the possibility of those losses should they occur, then go for it - however I think we've seen the last of the broad lockdown unless shit gets real crazy. As for Disney by yourself - I haven't done it, but i'm sure its still enjoyable if you've done solo travel before - its a lot easier to do marathon days and push the limits of endurance when you only have to worry about yourself. Being a single rider makes things a bit easier too. I personally feel more enjoyment watching my friends and family experience something for the first time than doing things by myself, but if it works for you - why not?

One of the better marketing activations of seen for a ride in Australia…

I notice that AlexB has also posted a visit, but I have not read it yet. Will be interesting to compare after. I got an Annual Pass for Xmas, but I wasn't planning on going back until another new attraction would open after SV and ST. But, a welcome gift regardless. It must be very different for someone who's not a Park enthusiast (ie on Forums or Social Media pages) going back the first time after 2016. For me, I've been here the whole time so I know what's changed (mostly) since I was last a passholder here (I instead had VRTP passes mainly because of DCR, but I digress). I arrived at 10:30 on Sunday and made sure to check out the skyline from the carpark with Buzzsaw gone. For me, I was still surprised that the top part of ToT's track is still there. I guess leaving it is easier than removing it (sounds familiar regarding our Parks...). I guess though unless you look for it you won't notice it. ST's MCBR looks a lot longer to the eye, but it does have to fit the whole train. The trains roll onto and along it pretty quickly anyway so it isn't that important, but it does stand out when looking at the skyline. The spike and loop, however, are much more eye catching. The entry staff were all very polite and helpful, with the one on my gate taking a moment to explain the Apple Wallet feature of the Annual Pass (I got it as a gift so didn't read the welcome email). Thinking back, Sky Voyager's building did not stick out like a sore thumb, although again I'm quite familiar with the changes over the last few years. It's possibly because of the lack of bright colours, despite the fancy architecture. The eye is still drawn to the Globe, Candy Shop and weenies of ST and GD. Naturally I went straight to Steel Taipan. The precinct was nicer than I was expecting. When the greenery grows in a bit more I think it'll do fine. I went to take a few pics and the gate to the former Buzzsaw was open. This area must not be getting any love from the grounds people. Could certainly do with a tidy-up. The old entry to the Buzzsaw gift show (behind the wood fence in the pics) just has a speaker and sound system on wheels plonked down in the doorway. Could do with another look at that area, DW, even if it's now blocked off by the old timey photos stall. Going by comments I've seen around, I thought that this view of the launch plant rooms was going to be a big detractor to the ride, but it really isn't. The view up from the carpark looks over the top of these, and unless you're going out of your way to be in this spot (down an obvious dead-end path), you'll never see these buildings as ST's launch and queue fence block the view of these buildings. Being a single rider, ST was a walk-on. With two trains running, standard queue barely had to wait 15 minutes to ride... and this was the first sunny day after many of bad weather. In school holidays. Hmm. Anyway, good for me. I posted about my rides on ST in the reviews thread. Very enjoyable ride. Staff are in the honeymoon phase with it and it's going great. Their enthusiasm helps make the ride experience great, even the one in the control booth / on the PA. I hung around in the ride area to watch a few cycles. Cool to feel the rumble under you when you're under the first hill when the 3rd launch makes it over. Nobody was in the Tail Whip seats that I saw for 3-4 cycles. I then moved over to Sky Voyager. Having never experienced the original videos, I can only comment on the current ones. The short one in the main queue room with the luggage was fine, and the advertising that has the changing colours certainly works in getting your attention away from your phone. Whoever came up with it, kudos. The indigenous welcome video is a nice idea, however it does need subtitles. The main ride info video isn't too long, which is good. Funny enough, too. Reminds me of some of the classic Virgin Australia / Air NZ safety videos. My first ride was upstairs centre, as sorted by the rideop. The ride appeared to be run by only 3 staff - one upstairs, one downstairs, and one operator. Ride Cycles felt slow, I wondered how much faster it was in earlier days with more staff on the load/unload part, especially if people weren't filling the middle seats. I really enjoyed it, having long forgotten about the mentions here of water spray and smells, they were a nice addition and compliment the video. Surprised that DW itself doesn't make an appearance, but I think that's been spoken about here before? I exited the ride and made my way over the the train station to check out Baldwin. On the way, the barbershop quartet were singing happy birthday to a woman in a wheelchair. They really made her smile, which was nice. I missed them over the years. Goldie less so (for me, YMMV), but he always had a crowd. Next I made my way along the path towards Giant Drop, past some kids throwing rocks around under ST's Twister Horseshoe section (really, DW - grey walls and rock gardens?), and up onto spaghetti junction. Now that the train no longer comes this way, nature is healing... This area offers a good view of the ride, no wonder the construction thread posts and social media channels had photos from here a lot. My plan was to ride the oldies on another visit, and I wanted to get rides of ST/SV this visit, and get a feel for the park. I wandered down the ramps instead of the stairs, and found the RHLR area in this state: ...certainly not the most scenic part of this theme park. Oof. Also, I wonder what's living in that hole? The new owner of this part of the park that's been sold off? j/k DW need to either hide this are better, plant new trees like they've done closer to Corroboree, or put in a new attraction quickly. Otherwise, this area of the park is a major detraction. Rocky Hollow Train Station must go. As should spaghetti junction. The GD queue could easily be re-done on the western side of the ride. Corroboree was pretty much as it was all those years ago. The nocturnal animal exhibit was always a favourite of mine on a warmer day, and I'm a bit disappointed that it's closed. If it's a health concern I will understand, but if it's because they have chosen to discontinue it, I'll be disappointed to learn that. Without many international tourists this part of the park is very quiet. The Koala photos area had nobody there apart from staff, who were happy to chat with the occasional guest who wandered in. Corroboree feels a little overgrown at the moment, but I guess it does need shade for animals and guests. The Cassowary area is always nice to walk though, and its obvious rainforest setting offers a respite from the sun. The area from the barnyard animals, past the Billabong Train Stop and the Restaurant itself, is a dead part of the park (apart from the many turtles that want to come say hi if you get anywhere near the railing). I didn't know that Big Red Car had closed. It certainly needs replacing if so. I know that the ABC Kids area is very important to families visiting the park, but I'm of the vintage that fondly remembers old Rivertown. Tiger Island's bamboo-walled walkway under the train line tries to hide the ToT building looming behind it, but without luck. That should come down. Broken record time - I guess leaving it there is cheaper than removing it. Pulling it down would open up some much needed room for a Dreamworks expansion down the line. This said, I guess the path to Tiger Island already has mushroom to grow. Ahem. Kittys being kittys in hot weather, were doing all they could to keep cool. I made my way over towards the Gold Coaster, as this part of the Park always used to feel unsettled to me. The area that had trolls / Kevil / Flowrider / WW internal entry - and Google Maps show Thunderbolt's station still there? I think it needs opening up completely, maybe a dark ride could replace all of this area? This said, workshops still operate in the old Thunderbolt footprint. Speaking of... What is this blue vehicle? Is it a diesel tug for Perry/Baldwin? Shockwave feels like it's hidden away now, I'm not sure what has changed in that area since I was last a pass holder. Also strange to be in Ocean Parade and not hear wipeout. Um, nice seating area? By this stage it was getting very warm and humid - and the apparent respites were the magic show (which doesn't interest me) or Sky Voyager. So I joined the 30 minute queue in the luggage room. Guess that's a good thing about less staff on the ride - you get to cool down while waiting. I managed to make it onto centre lower level this time, and the ride was much better. Upstairs the top of the screen is much more noticeable. Something I did on this ride was to look at the gondolas alongside ours - the view is pretty cool. I then rode Steel Taipan in row 10 on the non-Tailwhip train (incredible!), and had to wait a bit for to decide if I wanted another go so soon. Hmm - maybe I'm not the coaster head I used to be, or maybe that row really packs a (good) punch? At least there were riders doing Tailwhip at this part of the day. Sat down for a B1 at the Ice Cream shop to decide if I wanted to re-ride ST. Considering how filling they are, the answer was certainly 'no'. By this stage it was almost 4pm, and I had planned to try and beat the weekend traffic returning to Brisbane. Turns out that there was no weekend traffic returning to Brisbane. Ahh, school holidays. I found myself thinking on two occasions (when at ex-Rocky Hollow and when near Billabong) that DW should select people at random and tag along with them with a clipboard (tablet) to get a guest's perspective. Do any parks do that around the world? Anyway, if you want to ask a question of someone who hasn't been since before that thing in 2016, fire away.

I Attended Movieworld for the first time in a while today & thought I’d comment on a few things including these rumoured additions. First off, the place is thriving with guests. It’s almost like they haven’t heard about the new ride down the road (which with the marketing for it they definitely would have) or they just aren’t interested in visiting the park as it is right now. Just shows DW have to keep pushing to get their mojo back! POSITIVES Superman, Batwing & Roadrunner are still running quite well despite their age. Roadrunner’s new trains are super comfy & a great upgrade, just wish they would have done a repaint. Yogi Bear 4D was quite a fun little snippet of the movie, definitely not the worst screening I’ve seen them put on in that theatre. NEGATIVES 3 rides were closed today, GL, DD & WWF. GL & DD especially must be maintenance nightmares for them! With these rides closed it really does hurt the other lines in the park. Scooby is still terrible with the “Next Gen” upgrade.. however kids seem to not care & still love it. Justice League is still all sorts of broken, with 3 screens not even turning on. If they don’t want to keep it up & working.. why bother? Wouldn’t mind this getting replaced, despite it only being 10 years old. DCR still has issues with seating that I’ve seen raised here on the forums, with the attendant having to mark off where people are going to sit on a white board. The ride is a lot rougher than I remember, but with Mack’s premium seats I don’t see it being a huge issue in the future. RUMOURED ATTRACTION(s) As for the Dualing Boomerang + Suspended Family Coaster, I think it would be a perfect fit for them. I totally understand why they would have chosen this & even though it doesn’t excite me personally, I can see it being a big hit with families. PAST & FUTURE If it was me, I would have kept pushing the themed rides long ago. The parks theming seems to have declined since 2011 when they removed LTRR & Batman Adventure Ride. Only noticeable mention of “theming” would be Justice League & the Doomsday precinct, but accompanied by terrible rides, it just doesn’t live up to the old standards. When you think about how much detailed theming was put into the LTRR & Batman AR, the new theming just isn’t as good. I would have pushed Movieworld as the “Universal of Australia” & let dreamworld take the Six Flags route, but it seems MW is taking the same. I just hope they don’t dig a hole like DW did & struggle to get out of it. I agree as others have said Movieworld as of right now is neither on an “incline” or “decline”, but the next few additions will shape the direction they’re heading. The kids area is desperately needing a new ride, something that takes you on an adventure, something that LTRR did. As for the next addition after, I would either be replacing JL or use the Showcase studio with a Spider-Man/Transformers type ride system. Anyway sorry for rambling on! Just my thoughts 😃

I don’t think I’ve mentioned this yet, but a bit of trivia for everyone. The lockers for the ride are actually the old lockers from the Wipeout. They were kept because they were still in perfect condition. They just had a bit of work done and a repaint.

Quiet day, despite it being school holidays. I mentioned to the staff sorting the queue that I’d be happy to wait to ride row 10 on the non-spinning train. She gave me the knowing grin and waved me to it. Rows 6-10 were empty except me, and the seat checking rideop guy also gave me that knowing grin when he finally reached me, saying “best seats apart from the spinning ones”, and wow I agree.

As reported in the GCB, John Longhurst has passed away, aged 90. Most folks will remember John as the founder (and builder) of Dreamworld, responsible for literally carving out the rivers and buildings that exist today. John was a visionary and will be missed. If you'd like to learn more about his legacy, I interviewed him a few years back and turned our chats into a three-part series which is, as far as I can find, still the best source online about how he built Dreamworld.