Leaderboard

I've had the chance to ride the new Big Dipper. So I'll leave some of my thoughts. We all know what the ride looks like at the “Luna Land” section of the park and it's got a nice “dominant” presence. The station/queue area is not presented the best. I just put this down to a serious limitation on space. You have a giant support structure all over the place and a queue that snakes it was through. The bridge could have looked a little nicer but I understand why they picked that option. It's simply been done to ensure you don't throw medium/ large items onto the train as it goes over the first launch. The ride has a presence as it rushes around you. Much like the Wildmouse does when you line up waiting for it. The stations waiting gates are presented much in the same way as Boomerangs and I suffices for what the Park needs. The ride experience is amazing. Once the track and train (I'll come back to the train) have warmed up this thing flies around. The pacing is perfect and someone in the group I was with commented how this coaster has a similar B&M raw to it (I have never seen or heard a B&M in person myself). First launch has a nice little kick to it, that second launch definitely is on par, if not better than Jet Rescue as Seaworld. The ride elements are great, It's amazing to have ridden a proper headline role for the first time also. The non-inverting loop is nothing like Rivals but it still packs a decent whack. Even the moment of” floater” airtime on the return trip behind money island is great. The “Spaghetti bowl” section is great. Everything comes at you at a fast pace and before you know it you are back in the station. But, with all good things you get some bad things. I am an average build and size. The trains I fit into no problem, but the trains are light as hell. As mentioned by @Gazzathey rock when you go to place items into the storage bins. This also means as previously mentioned they feel every tyre and bump. The back of the train is terrible. It “jackhammers” the entire way around the course. This is all due to a lightweight train and small bogey wheels. One noticeable thing was the pacing of a train between a heavy load and a light load. Naturally, if you get adults or heavier people the train close around a little more forceful than a train full of kids. While it can be rough, it's still a great coaster. I'm happy to see this park have such a great ride.

looks like the answer is it only lasted for 2 days 😕

That’s it. And then if you rebuild the Captain Sturt, it’s not travelling between three country themed lands anymore, you’ll have a 19th century paddle boat docking between a kid’s area, a fake boat, a green concrete jungle of a coaster entryway and the remnants of an opening day building that’s been all but abandoned. If I were rescuing Dreamworld, building a boat is not the solution.

Circling back slightly, but I believe there is still some contractual requirements that VRTP need to meet, to continue to use the Top Golf brand. Although I'm unsure of the timelines, I know that they were meant to provide a certain amount of investment and expansion. That is one of the reasons why we have seen a few of the little hole in the wall experiences launched. When first opened, Melbourne was slated as the next "major" location, to a point where they had already started taking EOI's for Gold Coast team members to fly to Victoria to train and on-board management. I'd say VRTP will still be contractually obliged to fulfil these requirements in the near future.