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I saw that too! Here’s a picture

potentially unpopular opinion but the standard gyro swings are so much better then the 360 ones. i’d much rather airtime over uncomfortable hang time.

@franky it’s been open for almost 4 years and you’re right in saying it pretty much hasn’t had a long maintenance period (I think the longest was a month around the time of the Giant Drop refurb). To my understanding the park were able to develop a maintenance plan with Mack Rides that ensure the ride does receive its proper maintenance, without compromising the guest experience. Checks happen out side of park hours, and they ensure they have a sufficient amount of stock for all the parts they may require so it doesn’t delay reopening. The biggest maintenance job is generally on the trains, but they schedule those to have maintenance completed during school terms, so they can continue to operate it with one train. I’ve witnessed first hand how some of these checks occur and it’s certainly an impressive, thorough and effective process.

Also if it doesn't go upside down, it means you get airtime at the top of the swing. It's the flat ride equivalent of this versus this:

These photos from @Theme Park Girl show how it’s being installed and what it’s connecting too

New pictures from today! It’s coming along so fast too.

So I have just returned from a trip to Europe where I was able to sneak in 3 parks, Europa Park, Phantasialand and Legoland Billund. I was able to spend 2 days at each park. I'm going to start off however with something that really really p*ssed me off on this trip at the parks. I travelled on my own for this portion of the trip so of course was going to use Single Rider lines. Europa Park has about 6 rides and Phantasialand has 2 that have a Single Rider line. I have absolutely nothing against single rider lines, you run the risk of waiting long to get onto a ride as they're only used to fill empty seats, all good I accept that. What really p*ssed me off however was at both parks a staff member stood at the entrance to these rides and, as a single rider, I was forced to use them, which meant I couldn't queue for the front seat if I wanted to but also the staff member wasn't stopping groups from using the single rider line, which they did. A LOT. Now in credit to the loaders I saw none of them allow groups to be seated from the single rider line, even when asked they held firm and detailed the rules for the Single Rider line, but as stated above I was p*ssed that I was forced to use the line when groups could choose to use it. OK end of rant, onto the TR! Europa Park I wanna start by saying that this park is absolutely massive, I honestly think it would have to be one of the biggest parks out there. Themed around European countries overall the park is really well done. The theming is great, it's clean, their app works well (except for directions) and there is plenty of free wifi. The food at Europa is also top notch and cheap. Currywurst or Bratwurst in a roll for under $10 for example. Europa was also fairly easy to get to by train and when you get to Rust there is a free bus you can use to get around. Unfortunately when I was there it was the middle of Europe's summer holidays however operations at Europa are on point. I don't think I waited more than 30 minutes for any rides. Voltron This is the newest coaster in the park from MACK. This thing GOES. From start to finish it just does not let up. 4 launches, 7 inversions and some epic airtime later and you'll be running to reride it. 10/10 would definitely ride again. Being a single rider I was lucky to get rides in the front and back and it just slaps wherever you are. My only complaint with this was that by the end of the ride my thighs were a bit sore from being thrown into the lap bar so much. I really liked the operations on this ride. First off in the main queue hall if you have loose items you are given a keycard for a FREE locker for all loose items before you head to the station, interestingly if they catch you with anything after this point they will make you go back, put it in a locker, and go back to the end of the queue. When you get to the station the trains don't stop, the station is in constant motion and is loaded quickly row by row. The only time I saw the station stop was when a disabled person needed assistance, and even then the stop was minimal. Arthur OK this was an interesting ride. It's a family suspended coaster and its got some decent g-forces associated with it. Operations were similar to Voltron above with free lcokers and a constantly moving station. What struck me as really surprising however was 1 section of the ride, where you go through a bug city section indoors. The ride has onboard sound and during this section they've selected a portion of a Hip Hop track, not my cup of tea, but it fits with the section of ride. Now on my first ride I thought I'd heard something, second ride I specifically listened for it and by the 3rd ride I confirmed it. Now call me an old man but choosing a section of Hip Hop song that contains 2 racial slurs (N word) and the F word may not be appropriate for a kids ride, but that's just me. blue fire Megacoaster The OG Steel Taipan. Now I haven't ridden ST yet (I've been to Europe twice in 6 months, so haven't been able to afford to go to the Gold Coast), but I was pretty impressed by this. Lots of great speed and force along with some good airtime. I can see why it is so popular. Euro Mir This coaster was an interesting one. I've wanted to ride it since I first saw pictures of it way back in the 90s not long after it was built. When I finally got to ride it? Hated it. Hated it with an absolute passion. Typical of wild mouse lots of force going round tight bends at heights in front of mirrors and yeah, definitely not my cup of tea. Hated, hated, hated it. Wodan A fairly standard woodie, but was an awesome ride. Eurostat - Cancan Coaster Europa's golfball coaster. Pic above is of the model. I don't know why but I really liked this one. Really smooth, dark coaster. Silver Star This is a fairly standard B&M Hyper. Good speed and some great airtime, but nothing I haven't ridden before. There is a bunch of other smaller coasters like Pegasus, Schweizer Bobbahn, Matterhorn Blitz, Poseidon and Atlantica Splash which were all fun as well. Phantasialand OMG I wanna start by saying that this park is absolutely beautiful, I honestly think it would have to be one of the best themed parks out there, even as a former Mouse House employee, this place beats it hands down. The theming is out of this world, it's clean, their app works well but there is a real lack of free wifi. The food at Phantasialand is also top notch and cheap like Europa. Interestingly though it was cheaper to buy beer here than a coke. Phantasialand was also fairly easy to get to by train. Operations were also on point again never longer than about 30 minutes. Black Mamba No picture of this one, it is so super well hidden through theming but also it is mostly a ground hugging suspended coaster from B&M. Again this was on my list from very early on as it looked amazing and it lived up to the hype, unlike Euro Mir. Most of the course is through canyons and tunnels and it's a great ride. F.L.Y This is a flying coaster from Vekoma and damn it is amazing. Interesting operations as you load into a seated position and are then turned into a flying posting just before the launch. There are 2 launches and both pack a great punch. This was definitely a highlight of the trip. Taron Another launched coaster, this time from Intamin. As with everything at Phantasialand this is themed to the eyeballs and it's great. Lots of great airtime and some great forces. Raik Raik is a family boomerang that weaves in and out of Taron. Not a bad little ride. Colorado Adventure A family mine train roller coaster this could have been great. Great length, speed and layout but this has got to have the most uncomfortable seats on a roller coaster ever. And I've ridden Time Warp at Canada's Wonderland. Crazy Bats An indoor VR family coaster. The coaster itself wasn't bad, but when I rode it my VR was off and I had to turn my head to the side to make it look like I was going forward which was disappointing. Winjas OK this was interesting. 2 tracks, Force and Fear, and you can choose which one to go on, in a mass of people however this was difficult. Spinning Wild mouse coaster with some great drops and theming. Was also, for a wild mouse, surprisingly smooth. Talocan Not a coaster, but most people will recognise this Top pin after it went viral when it was built. This thing was amazing. Legoland Billund No pics for this one at the moment. This was a fairly standard Legoland. My biggest complaint however about this park was definitely the cleanliness. This park was filthy. Everything was dusty/grimy. For a park that closes for a few months each year it definitely needs some TLC. The park is of course aimed at families so there aren't many major thrill rides. It does however have 4 family coasters, 2 of which are mild thrill being X-Treme Racers (Standard Wild Mouse) and Polar X-Plorer (Which had a nice little drop surprise at the end). The food at Legoland wasn't bad, though expensive, but then again everything in Denmark is. I can recommend the ribs at Legoredo as they were pretty amazing. As an AFOL I really enjoyed all the builds and how they incorporated Lego into the park, just disappointed with how it was maintained. If you are in Billund you also can't miss the Lego House, this is more like a discovery centre/museum of Lego, but with lots of opportunities to build things and interact with them. You can also watch bricks being made and even eat in their robotic Mini Chef minifigure restaurant which was a bit of a novelty, but the food was pretty good. Overall across the 3 parks I got a really good mix of everything and was really pretty happy with my choices overall. I would definitely recommend Phantasialand if you get the chance, it was really so far out of this world with the theming and the rides were top notch.

Another great pic from @Theme Park Girl And for reference, here is a photo of The Claw from many years ago. You can see that the roof at the front right is still the same as gives an indication of how insanely big King Claw actually is!

Install has begun. Photos by @Theme Park Girl

I can confirm that's what they are doing.

like I said - 'I hope'... nothing would surprise me these days.

Jungle Rush has been cloned at in Vietnam, if anyone wants to see how it all looks exposed. Looks so strange without a plane and car ride in the middle. But it would be a good layout for parks wanting to put flat rides or other stuff in the middle too. https://rcdb.com/22957.htm Photo Credit: https://www.facebook.com/VHCoasters/posts/love-it-when-a-coaster-goes-almost-completely-under-the-radarand-yet-again-its-i/1155512776615332/

I could be way off here, not entirely sure how these things work. However I would have thought that this would have been part of the overall Rivertown project and funded into it. I assumed they would have had it booked in and organised with whatever suppliers, builders etc a long time ago. Again I could be way off, but I think the train actually does pull in crowds. It’s regularly commented on social media, as is the return of the paddle steamer etc. people love the nostalgia and the rides the whole family can enjoy. All the same I sure hope it returns this year. It will be so nice to have a ‘whole’ park again. (Without huge areas of construction or maintenance) We haven’t had that in many many years.

I doubt Dreamworld are providing anything for free and in fact the park is probably making decent money from this partnership and they’re getting a lot of advertising. If the Friday Night Games are indeed returning and occur within the park again, then it’s a way to show the country how good the park is looking and that people should return.

Big Brother is officially returning to its spiritual home, with a brand-new house set to rise from the ashes at Dreamworld on the Gold Coast. In an exclusive reveal producers confirmed the 2025 reboot of the iconic reality juggernaut will be filmed at the very site that made the franchise a cultural phenomenon more than two decades ago. After months of speculation and calls from diehard fans for a nostalgic full-circle moment, production company Endemol Shine has locked in Dreamworld as the official location for the show’s revival — complete with a purpose-built house. “The demand for a reboot of the original format has been deafening, and we have listened,” SVP of Content at Paramount Australia Daniel Monaghan said, promising the reboot will honour the raw, unscripted spirit of the original series. “With a brand-new house built on familiar ground, this season will be centred on real people with real stories, talking in real-time.” Fronting the revival is The Cheap Seats star and Nova radio host Mel Tracina, who described the hosting gig as a “pinch-me moment”. “I’d love to be able to recall the exact moment I got the call but my brain stopped braining from excitement,” she said. “I was simultaneously trying not to squeal into the phone and pass out at the same time.” Tracina, who watched the show’s very first season as a teenager, said: “The Big Brother house is synonymous with Dreamworld, so bringing the OG format to its OG location feels right. We’re excited to be home (and in a new house that hopefully comes with an air fryer).” “I was excited when Queensland was confirmed as the location because I knew fans of the show would be wrapped. Personally, I’m also happy because I’m a Melburnian who has Jon Snow’d through winter so I cannot wait to swap my MacPac for Havaianas.” Dreamworld CEO Greg Yong said: “We’re beyond thrilled to welcome Big Brother back home to Dreamworld. This iconic show holds a special place in our story and in the hearts of millions of Australians.” Supported by the Queensland Government through Screen Queensland’s Production Attraction Strategy, the production will employ 95 local crew members and offer four paid attachment positions. Casting is now open at bigbrothercasting.com.au. The new season will air later this year on 10. https://www.couriermail.com.au/entertainment/big-brother-returns-to-dreamworld-on-the-gold-coast/news-story/385a067b4ef357c443176eae58a1980c

Dreamworld just posted this and said they haven’t forgotten about the big announcement And maybe this is a coincidence, but Big Brother just posted this at the exact same time Considering DWs original posts about the big announcement had the same glitchy effect, I think it’s almost safe to say it’s this

This post from July 19, 2004, shows that supports were only being installed on The Claw in mid-July. The ride opened September 18, 2004. Dreamworld is definitely aiming for a September holiday opening.

At least they put a bit of effort in and painted it go away green

No comments on the colorbond fencing around dreamworld . It’s not new so not commented on yet but ugly as. the movie world debacle at Wild West reminded me

Indeed.. JWB Constructions Manager...

Looks as though DW has started (re)construction! Credit: https://www.facebook.com/GCthemeparkgirl

The castle should be repainted to the original paint scheme.

I know you know. I just posted that for the people that dont/didnt understand.

Yeah Steel Taipan is the exact same in the maintenance bay - but dreamworld has what I presume is a carrier\frame to load the cars onto sat outside the station building. It's a wonder MW doesn't have this, and a wonder that MACK haven't had to solve this problem previously given how many of these cars are in use worldwide. As for 'you can't just uncouple one car' - bullshit. you totally could if you wanted to. Might have cost more \ required more heavy machinery to do it right, and probably needing manufacturer \ engineer sign off when the train was finally rebuilt - and ultimately the winch out method they went with would have been cheaper and easier to do, but you could have unbolted the running gear and craned the cars onto the back of a truck anytime you liked. Big difference between can't, and don't want to. Yeaahhhhhh I think you'll find in the context Brad was referring to - he meant the annual maintenance - the one period you didn't mention in your reply.

Maybe the marketing comes alongside the contract of using their land. Therefore they get paid for the use of their land/park/resources, plus they get free marketing. 2-0 equal 2…. Therefore $$$ for DW

Or the markets can take advantage of FNL, with a live audience.

If Big Brother does this right, this is essentially just IRL Twitch. Edit: Some quick Twitch stats thanks to Google AI (so... very possibly wrong) 2.5 million people tune into the Twitch at any given moment Japan and Australia have a combined userbase of 4.1 million Twitch users, making up 1.6% of the platform In Australia, Twitch users are predominantly in the 18-34 age group, with 75% being male So if those details are anywhere near accurate, there is a big gap in the female "twitch" market. BB doesn't need to get an influencer onboard with the cast, but they likely will need them onboard talking about the show

When I drove past Dreamworld the other day it looked like they had put new fencing in where the Monster Truck Show was, on the border outside Coomera State School. I wonder if perhaps they will put the house in that spot, then utilise the Exhibition Centre for live crosses?

Just as likely it isn't an announcement at all and it's just the website going live, with a bunch of things locked out for later reveals.

I don't think he got it.

So per @Jobe's original - they can name this first car as B1 and the second car they get can be B2!

Only if they got another coaster and called it B2

Should this car be called B1 perhaps??

From OzThrills on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ozthrills/reel/DMXR79fyfbM/ Video-783.mp4

I’ve just spent almost three weeks exploring Japan and along the way visited several theme parks. Two of which we had already planned to visit and two others that we ended up visiting in the moment. This includes Tokyo DisneySea, Universal Studios Japan, Fuji-Q Highland and Suzuka Circuit Motopia. I first visited Japan 9 years ago and at the time only visited Universal Studios Japan; you can read that trip report here: Tokyo DisneySea This was the first park of the trip and my third ever Disney park (Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney Studio Park being the other two). We didn’t have enough time to visit both Disney parks on this trip, so opted for DisneySea because of how highly everyone talks about this park (and for Fantasy Springs). We arrived at the park at 8:30, with the park set to open at 9. We’d heard that the process to get in was pretty quick even when the lines are long as the staff are efficient… this was not the case. We didn’t get into the park until almost 10 (not a complaint, just something to note for anyone planning to visit). Once we were through the gate, I immediately jumped into the app and started trying to book passes to jump the queues for as many rides as possible. The first impression enter the park under the hotel is one of the most mind blowing first sights I’ve ever had walking into a theme park. It is so beautiful, so detailed and it makes me want to see it all at once. We began exploring the park in a clockwise direction towards Port Discovery. Walking to this land, it honestly didn’t feel like you were in a theme park, everything looks so well considered, amazing sight lines, detailing, atmosphere, it’s all just incredible. Our first ride was Nemo & Friends Searider. I didn’t really know what this ride was, but my wife is a massive Finding Nemo fan. The ride was essentially a 3D simulator ride and made you believe you were shrunk down to the size of a fish and go on a journey with the characters. A well executed ride, but nothing out of this world. We then ventured to Mysterious Island to ride our first free past pass ride, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. To access this ride you have to enter into the centre of the volcano, which alone is absolutely insane, but then you work your way down towards the water and under the volcano. The ride itself was really impressive and give you the impression you are actually underwater and see all of these underwater creatures, very immersive and enjoyable ride. We then had our first paid fast pass ride, Toy Story Mania. This was only our second ever shooting dark ride (Justice League being the first) and my god this was so much more enjoyable. All of the mini games were very fun, the queue and station theming were great and the shooting system (while tiring by the end of the ride) was easy to use. From here we had to make the very long journey to the back of the park as we had our first fast pass (This was the fast pass we were able to secure as soon as we entered the park) in Fantasy Springs, Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival. Fantasy Springs was by far the area of the park I was most looking forward to and I had stayed spoiler free for the most part. The first impressions as you enter into the land is mind blowing, it’s just beautiful. It really does feel like a fantasy. The music starts to change, the landscape changes and you become fully immersed into what they’ve created. When your within the land you can’t see anything else but the land you are in. We headed to the right into Rapunzel’s Forest. The queue for the ride was really well executed and the loading procedures were so fast, organised and effective. The ride itself is a boat ride that doesn’t have any drops or lift hills and takes you on a very shortened version of the Tangled movie. The animatronics and execution of the scenes were unlike I’ve ever seen in person, it actually creates emotions. And that final lantern scene was beautiful and made me feel like nothing else in the world mattered in that moment. Sadly the major downside to this ride is it feels like it’s over before it’s begun, it’s way too short and should’ve been at least double the ride time, but it is still absolutely worth riding and paying for a priority pass. As it was nearing lunch time, we decided to stay in Fantasy Springs and eat at the Royal Banquet of Arendalle. The menu wasn’t massive, but its offerings were very enjoyable. To enter this sit down quick service restaurant you had to do a mobile order and show the order at the entrance when it was ready. Then once you’re inside it tells you what counter to collect your order from and that’s it! It was a very simple and fast process and didn’t require any waiting. The dining area had a massive amount of tables, so there was no issue finding somewhere to sit, and it was a really pleasant space to sit and relax amongst the craziness of a Disney theme park day. I’d highly recommend anyone visiting this park to visit this restaurant for lunch and a place to relax. After lunch our ride was Journey to the Centre of the Earth. This was the ride I was most looking forward to, but with a 4.5hr standby wait time, my only hope to ride it was with a fast pass (thankfully I managed to secure one while we were sat down for lunch). This ride is set within the volcano and takes out on a journey deep into the centre of volcano exploring what lives within. I had stayed relatively spoiler free for this ride, but knew it had a similar ride system to Radiator Springs or Test Track and there was a massive animatronic. Before we had even boarded the ride, the queue line was mind blowing. It has so much detail, effects and the use of an elevator to give the impression you are dropping deep into the volcano. The ride itself was incredible and ended up being my favourite ride in the park. It wasn’t necessarily overly thrilling, but the suspense, animatronics, darkness and use of smoke and fire made the experience unlike anything I’d ever been on. And that last massive animatronic before you are launched out of the volcano was incredible. This ride has to be a must do for anyone visiting this park because it will blow you away. When then explored the ‘Mermaid Lagoon’ and ‘Lost River Delta’ lands and like the rest of the park was really impressed with the level of theming and the rides on offer. Mermaid Lagoon is the only dedicated kids ride land in the park and offers a great variety of flat rides. I was really hoping to ride Indiana Jones, but with a 3 hour wait, the single rider line closed and being unsuccessful in getting a fast pass, sadly we had to miss out on this. We then ventured into the Arabian Coast to ride Sinbad’s Storybook Voyage. This ride had the shortest wait time in the park at only 15 minutes. I had heard this ride was an enjoyable boat ride and generally always has a short queue and after riding it, I don’t know why because it is really really good. It’s a gentle boat ride filled with hundreds of animatronics, music and effects and is probably the longest boat ride in the park. It’s just a classic and fun ride. After this we headed back into Fantasy Springs because how could we not! We wanted to explore even more of the land while we tried to get priority passes for the other rides. This land really feels like its own seperate park and you could honestly just spend the entire day in here exploring every corner and detail. We were lucky to get a fast pass for Anna & Elsa’s Frozen Journey and it was for in 15 minutes after purchasing. And wow what a ride this was. The story telling, detail, effects and animatronics were unlike anything else. This ride was fantastic and was easily my second favourite of the day. And the length of the ride really allowed you to get fully immersed into the story, which is what Rapunzel’s ride unfortunately lacked. Unfortunately that would be the last ride of the day as the weather had dramatically changed and was now very very windy and cold. We originally wanted to stay for the nighttime shows, but these were cancelled due to the weather. Generally speaking, we did eat at many different food outlets and stalls throughout the park to try different things, but the only place we dined was within Frozen. And for merchandise, we didn’t actually buy anything because there wasn’t actually anything within any of the stores that was of interest. The merchandise we found to be very much targeted to the Japanese market (for obvious reasons), so there wasn’t even a magnet or tshirt that appealed to us. Overall, what a fantastic day and easily my new favourite theme park. However, while using the app and booking passes is a simple process, it’s does make the day pretty stressful, especially when you’re trying to make sure you get on everything you want. Any opportunity I had I would be in the app refreshing it to try and buy or secure passes for various rides because most attraction waits were between 1 and 4 hours. Throughout the day I was trying to get a Standby Pass for the Fantasy Springs rides, but had no luck, which is why we had to buy the Priority Passes to be able to ride them. From the start of April you no longer require a Standby Pass for Fantasy Springs attractions, but that means the queues are now up to 5 hours for the majority of the day. Fuji-Q Highland I’ll be upfront about our visit to this park, it wasn’t originally on our list of places to visit due to time constraints. However, we do manage to spend about 1.5 hours wondering around the park for reasons I’ll explain shortly. We hired a car for the day from Tokyo so we could go and explore the northern areas of Mount Fuji. To get her via train can take over 4 hours, but driving was only 1.5 hours. I highly recommend to anyone who wants to see and explore Mount Fuji, but doesn’t necessarily want to stay a night out there. As we arrived in the area, we actually drove directly past Fuji-Q and the views you get of the park and awesome. Getting to see these coasters in person made me realise why people make the trek to visit this park. We explored the Lake Kawaguchi region in the morning and because we had some spare time over lunch we decided to stop in the Fuji-Q before heading to the Chureito Pagoda. Part of our reason to justify visiting the park for only a couple hours was because it is actually free to enter to park. The park has a pay per ride system, or a ride all day option that basically makes it like visiting a normal theme park. As we drove, it was ¥2,000 to park and then get a free entry ticket from the ticket booth, which we had to scan to be able to enter the park. At this point it was around midday, the park had been open a couple of hours and the car park appeared to be relatively empty. This made me think that there might be a change I could get to go on at least one of the coasters (spoiler alert, this was not the case). The first area of the park you walk through is ‘La ville Gaspard et Lisa’, a French inspired street with good theming and plenty of eateries to choose from. I didn’t know much about this park, but this level of theming made me think maybe the whole park was like this…. I was very much wrong. There was some theming in Thomas land, but otherwise that’s about it. And maybe it’s not really necessary because you visit this park for the insane coasters and the incredible backdrop that is Mount Fuji. We decided to do a full loop of the park to see what it had to offer (in terms of food and to see what the wait times were like). Very quickly my hopes to possibly get on a ride or two became a dream because despite what I deceived to be very low crowds, every coaster had a wait time of a minimum of two hours. I had heard that this parks dispatched times were bad, but wow they have to be some of the worst in the world. I couldn’t even tell if they were running multiple trains because they had dispatches of over 5 minutes between the trains arriving into the stations and leaving. If you thought Villages were bad, think again. The wait times also didn’t help because they now only have 3 major coasters in operation, all of which have decent ride times. Do-Dodonpa closed several years ago now and all that remains is the loop and only a couple months ago Eejanaika also had an incident and now very much looks like it could be closed for some time. Obviously it was a little disappointing I wasn’t going to get a chance to ride anything, but it wasn’t originally in our plans to even visit the park, so I was happy to just be there and see it in person. In terms of the rest of the park, it did feel run down and I don’t know if I had set the park too high because I had always heard good things about it, but it was underwhelming to walk around. With two major coasters closed amongst 4 or 5 other flat rides closed and the operating flat rides looking like they need some love, everything was a bit meh. Don’t get me wrong, the operating coasters did look like a fantastic experience and really these are the main reason to visit this park. But for anyone who is planning on going, don’t expect much else outside these coasters, the incredible backdrop and the food was decent for theme park food. And after witnessing the dispatch times, it could honestly take you all day to just ride the 3 coasters even on a quiet day. On our way out we stopped by the Fujiyama observation deck, which for about $15 allows you access to a lookout with amazing views of Mount Fuji and the park, but is surrounded by the track of Fujiyama. After the first drop, the train ascends up to the rides second highest point because looping round this lookout; a very cool experience and you don’t have to renter the park to access it! Universal Studios Japan This park I was able to visit nine years ago during my first trip to Japan and was very excited to visit again particularly for Super Nintendo World, to get to go on the ride within the Wizarding World and to go on some of the attractions I loved last time. Before visiting, I had the main goal to get the Universal Express Pass 7 because I wanted to make sure we could actually achieve everything we wanted to because of how busy this park gets. And with Nintendo still requiring an entry time, this express pass guaranteed entry and every ride. Anyone who is wanting to visit this park, if you can afford it I highly recommend you get this pass. They sell out very quickly, but to fully enjoy your single day that I’d say it’s a must. For us entry tickets were $100 each and the Express Pass was around $250 each. This made it a more expensive day than at Disney, but far less stressful! We visited the park on a Tuesday, which isn’t the busiest day of the week for this park, most major rides had wait times between 2 and 4 hours. We had timed entry for the Wizarding World for 10am (this land doesn’t require an entry pass like Nintendo). The park opened at 8:30, but we didn’t arrive until 9:30. Unlike Disney’s security system, Universal’s was a lot more efficient and while the line was almost as long as Disney’s, it took us half the amount of time to get into the park. Once in, we headed straight for Hogwarts. My wife and I are big Harry Potter fans and while I’d been here before and we’d done the studio tour in London, we were very excited to experience this land to its fullest (something I didn’t get the chance to do last time). I love the entry into the Wizarding World at Japan; to my understanding it’s very different to the entries at both American parks, but walking through the forest and (almost) separating yourself from the rest of the park was very well executed. We headed straight for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, a ride I unfortunately missed out on last time. And having never visited the American parks this would be my first ever time experiencing this ride. The wait time was around 2 hours, but with express you skipped straight to the lockers and then join the regular queue, making the wait around 15 minutes in total. Having read all about this ride, but having never watched a POV it was still very much a surprise even after the ride opening over a decade ago. What an impressive ride this is, especially with the immense amount of technology involved (particularly considering how long it’s been open for). The loading procedures were so efficient, it’s impressive how high capacity this ride actually is. It’s filled with screens and practical sets and effects that all blend very well together. The ride system was unlike anything I’ve ever been on and it did make me feel a little nauseas (which I’d heard some people feel after this ride), but it was only brief while getting off the ride. My wife wasn’t able to ride this (due to a recent surgery), but last time I visited they offered a Hogwarts Castle walk-through experience, where you walked alongside the rides main queue, but you bypass the rides station so you don’t have to ride it. This was great because it allowed you to experience the immersive detail of the queue and it never has a wait. Sadly, we asked about it this time before the staff said they don’t offer that anymore. I’m not sure how long they haven’t offered it, but it’s a real shame they’ve done so. Next up was Flight of the Hippogriff, which had one of the longest lines in the park the whole day. If you don’t have express pass or don’t get to this ride first, it absolutely isn’t worth it. It’s fine for what it is and they have two trains operating, but it just isn’t a high capacity ride. We spent the next hour or so experiencing the entire land, checking out all of the stores and detailing; it’s so enjoyable to just walk around this area of the park. Earlier I mentioned this land almost separates you from the rest of the park; the reason it almost does this is because with Donkey Kong Country open, that land backs directly onto the Wizarding World, so you can see parts of that land behind the Hogwarts Castle. Heading out of the land we made our way anti-close wise around the park, so next us was Jaws. I remember absolutely lovely this ride last time and I enjoyed it just as much this time. It’s such a classic ride and I wish there were more rides like this around the world because even though I couldn’t speak the language, the story was clear and it’s such a gem. I truly hope USJ keeps this ride for as long as possible, since it’s the last. We then ate at the Boardwalk snacks for lunch before heading to Water World. This was the fourth time seeing this show (USJ once before and twice at USS) and it’s still just as good as the first time. I’d happily watch this show any time I visit a Universal park that has it because it’s so well out together (like how Police Academy was). We made our way through Jurassic Park (we come back here later) to head towards Minions Land. Last time I visited this park it was the Back to the Future ride, so I was interested to see the change and how they modified the ride to suit Minions Mayhem. The land itself was really well executed, with lots to look at, a couple of stores and a variety of food options (I highly recommend the Minion steamed bun). We had an Express Pass for Minions Mayhem and it was the first time ever expressing this ride and other than a simulator style ride, I didn’t really know what to expect. In summary, it’s fine; a one and done; you can skip it if you aren’t sure whether or not to ride it. I don’t know if the setup for the ride differs to other versions of the ride (would be interested to hear from anyone who’s ridden different versions), but the setup and ride system was exactly the same as what Back to the Future was. So much so, it seemed like they were still using the original dome/screen because you could seen all of the panel joins and it was pretty distracting. The ride experience I did find a little nauseating too, almost more than Harry Potter. We then continued our loop around the park through New York and Hollywood. I had hoped to ride Space Fantasy, but this wasn’t included in our Express Pass, the wait was 2 hours and no single rider option. With the closures of Spider-Man and Backdraft, this area of the park did feel pretty lacking, which is a real shame because both of those were great attractions (Spider-Man remained my favourite ever ride before this trip). We explored the many stores in these areas and found the merchandise offerings a lot better than Disney. It could be because it was more of what we were interested in, but it felt like there was a lot wider range of products to choose from. It was later in the afternoon at this point and there still a few things we wanted to do before our nighttime entry into Super Nintendo World. We made our way back to Jurassic Park to ride what still remains as my favourite coaster, Flying Dinosaur. I first rode this when it had only opened a few weeks prior to my first visit and was interested to see if it still had that well known B&M smoothness and if it still scared the hell out of me. The answer to both those questions is yes. There are only two rides that I’ve ever been on that genuinely scare me, The Giant Drop and this! The intensity, forces, speed and just the whole damn layout are insanity. But my god it’s so much tun. I was lucky enough to get front row on this ride so I could see everything we were about to face. Surprisingly this time I didn’t grey/black out (last time I didn’t many times), so I could truly appreciate every aspect of the ride. I would honestly visit this park just to ride Flying Dinosaur! And the efficiency of the load and unloading has got to be the best in the world. They have two stations and three trains always in operations. There is no stacking (unless there’s an issue), so this means there is always a train load, a train out on the track and a train unloading. Hats off to the team that operate this because it’s incredible to watch and experience. We then made our way back into the Wizarding world to have dinner at the Leaky Cauldron. The line was this restaurant was almost an hour long at lunch time, but for dinner it was only 5 minutes. They offer English pub style food and it’s an enjoyable meal for the pride you pay. At this point it was now dark, so we spent a bit of time walking around the land to enjoy its lighting and ambiance before making our way to the land we’d been most looking forward to, Super Nintendo World. We’re of the age where we grew up playing these games, so to be able to experience it in real light was very exciting. We’d obviously seen photos/videos of the land online, but the feeling of walking through the pipe into princess peaches castle and into the land was unlike anything else. There was so much to look at, it was very overwhelming but I just wanted to stand there and take it all in. I can see why this land could over stimulating for some people, but for us it was just pure joy and excitement. We made our way through to the land to ride Mario Kart. The scale of entrance into the ride was so impressive, but it just got even better as we made our way through the queue. The detailing and scale of everything was mind-blowing and we probably could’ve spent a long time just looking at it all. You collect your Mario hat that the AI googles connects too at the end of the main queue area before heading into two different rooms; once shows you how to wear the hat and the next explains how to play the game during your ride experience. I’d heard the game aspect usually took people a few rides to get the hang of, so I was sure to play close attention because I was only getting the one opportunity to ride. Now I had watched tried to POV or two of the ride when it first opened, but they honestly don’t do the ride experience justice. If you wanted, you don’t have to wear the googles and you could just sit back and enjoy the sets because they are really well executed, but the game aspect was so much fun. To be able to play MarioKart in real life made me feel like a little kid again, it was so much better than I had anticipated. The ride takes you through a blend of all of the iconic MarioKart tracks and it’s all executed so well. During the ride’s explanation they suggest that you should aim to collect over 100 coins and that I managed to do, so I felt like I picked up how to play the game/ride pretty quickly. We then made our way to Yoshi’s adventure, which is just a slow moving tracked ride that allows you to see the Nintendo land from a new perspective, with a show scene halfway through the ride. We enjoyed it for what it was, but definitely isn’t a must if the wait time is too long. Because we were entering the land at 7pm and the park was closing at 9pm, we didn’t see value in spending $50 on the power up bands to experience all of the mini-games. But honestly, you could probably spend your entire day in this land just playing all of the mini-games and you’d have a great day (if that’s your sort of thing). It was now time for Donkey Kong Country and the ride I was most looking forward to riding at this park, Mine Cart Madness. The Donkey Kong land itself isn’t massive and is mostly taken up by the ride itself. But like the Super Mario area, the detailing and Easter eggs were everywhere. Again, so much to look at and do, with lots of mini games, food options, a store and a Donkey Kong meet and greet (sadly it was too late in the day for an appearance). It was 8pm at this point and Mine Cart Madness was still listed at a four hour wait and the queue went all the way back to the entrance of this land (the ride entry is all the way at the back of the land). Even with Express Pass the wait was still about 30 minutes, as the ride vehicles only seat 4 people, but that is a crucial part to the ride experience. The station does have a moving platform and the vehicles were only spaced out around 15-20 seconds on the course, so the throughput is very high. The ride itself was so much fun! I’ve read mixed reviews online with people saying the ride it way to short and is rough, and while yes I wish the ride time was longer, it already takes up the majority of the land and due to the vehicle being attacked to an arm that extends down to the track, they don’t want to ruin the illusion when you’re off the ride. The ride itself isn’t necessarily rough, because it does run smoothly, but it does throw you side to side at a few moments on the ride, but I perceived this as being on purpose. You are riding a Mine Cart, that is jumping track and is turning on two wheels, which in reality wouldn’t be a smooth experience; so it all just adds to the narrative of the ride. There are water and smoke effects, animatronics and show scenes throughout the ride and all of it coming together made it a really fun overall experience. It’s not worth the four hour wait, but I’d wait an hour for sure. It was almost time for park close, so we began to make our way to the park exit after an incredible day and a greater appreciation for how awesome this park is. However, with now only a 10 minute wait (actually just a walk on), I had to get a night ride on Jurassic Park. This ride had been closed for 18 months as part of a massive refurbishment and had only reopened earlier this year, so I was excited to ride it in what should be in perfect condition. Because it was a cold and windy night in Osaka, I opted for the back row as the ride-ops said this is where I would get less wet (they were correct). It was so great to ride one of my favourites again, particularly at night and in such great condition; a perfect way to end the night. Suzuka Circuit Motopia The reason we got to visit this park is because we attended the Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix. As part of your entry into the event, you also get unlimited access to the entire theme/amusement park, which is integrated into the race circuit. This park is a little tricky to get too, so it’s definitely not a must visit on your Japan trip, but it has a good selection of rides. It is a free park to enter and you just pay per ride, or can purchase an unlimited ride ticket. On our first day at the F1 we entered into the event through the Main Gate, which is also the main gate for the park itself. The park it split into multiple lands, which include a water park, kids area, a driving school type zone, but the main area we walked through was called GP field, which is right alongside the race track and features the parks main coaster, GP Racers and a giant Ferris wheel. GP racers is a Hoei Sangyo (Japanese manufacturer) coaster that has duelling frack with ride vehicles only seating two people per vehicle. The track is less than 500m long, so it’s a relatively short ride experience, but like Motocoaster at Dreamworld, offers a motorbike style ride experience (with a lift hill). This ride experience is so much more comfortable than Motocoaster, because you sit sit like you are riding Jet Rescue, but the ride vehicles are like a bike so it offers the same sensation as Motocoaster should do without all the pain! Still a fun little coaster and glad I had the opportunity to ride it. Conclusion Overall a fantastic trip to Japan and after 9 years, still enjoyed it just as much if not more. The theme park highlights obviously being DisneySea and Universal Studios, with Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Fantasy Springs, Flying Dinosaur and Super Nintendo World being the major highlights from both parks. Obviously the massive crowds play a major part in the experience and can dampen it if you don’t have express passes. While we found the overall quality of ride and the theme park itself to be better at DisneySea, we ended up having a better overall day at Universal because it was less stressful and we didn’t have to worry about being on the app to secure ride passes, otherwise we’d be standing in line for hours and wouldn’t really achieve much.

I would get there early and meet up with your group later if they aren’t bothered about some of the rides you’ll be able to get on. When I visited, Mine Cart Madness already had a 4 hour wait at the time the park was advertised to open.

Thankyou kind sir for doing the hard work. I've done the easy bit and shared the article in this thread So the 'new attraction' being teased by the headline is the 'zoom zone' replacement slides for Aqualoop. I will admit i'd forgotten about the hotel (and honestly thought they had too). they've hinted at a 'new entertainment offering' at MW, but let's be honest that could just be the next themed parade, or the upcoming fright nights offerings.

Honestly we need a drunk discussion thread anyway

DD replacement.

Yea spot on mate. Lols don't reply to the forums if you are heavily under the influence 😂🤣🍻

Doomsday Destroyer is the perfect example of a 360 swinging attraction that sucked (partly because it wasn’t unpowered)

I think the idea that 'it goes upside down' is quite polarising, and is where a lot of people draw the line on riding. Claw was popular enough over 20 years, this is the upgrade they needed to keep it going. I don't think it needs 360 to sell it - the sheer size comparison to Claw will be enough I think.

I’m fairly certain that this is the new fencing to fence in the Rivertown railway section when it’s complete. If so It’s gonna look great once it’s installed and the train is running through Rivertown!

It’s about managing cash flow / balance sheet / capital expenditure and potentially labour cost at correct price . They are an asx listed company wanting to deliver each financial year so much manage results . The circuit will return . Just a matter of when . It will not drive more visitation numbers so no rush but would be in shock if not done by Xmas as adds to overall experience ( which you could argue boosts people returning to a certain degree )

I personally go to my lawyers for Theme park discussion.

I love coming to Parkz for legal advise.

Dreamworld are hosting a fundraising event on Saturday September 6, 6pm to 10pm. The event is for over 18s and is $199 per person and includes the below. https://facebook.com/events/s/give-for-the-wild-a-gatsby-jun/5023010051257727/

You don't pull it down without the intention to fix it. I don't know what happened but you don't install it again before it's fixed. Sometimes MW makes me question, do they really give a f$%k anymore.