downunder

Here's the results, I preferred the Hawker Poll for rating coasters, but winning one is a good selling point for a park: http://goldenticketawards.com/2016-2/ Of note: Europa voted best park, ahead of Cedar Point Fury 325 voted best coaster, ahead of Millennium Force Lightning Rod at Dollywood voted best new ride If the Golden Ticket Awards were just for Australia, I wonder who'd win...actually I don't..I think Movie World might do OK.

^LOL that makes total sense, or maybe they are left over boxes from their last Mack installation being used as a decoy. Maybe next week they'll put out boxes with B & M spray painted on them, or...Vekoma.

^Intamin fanboy wishful thinking, wait, I'm one of those fanboys lol. But dammit churro cart guy said it was for a new coaster experience inside Scooby where the turntable decides which coaster you get (I'm going for ridiculous here, but that would be cool). Generally if you want to be told confidential stuff, be someone who won't tell it to anyone else, and have a rather binding NDA accompanying that for good measure helps.

Nice report, I spent 5.5 days at Cedar Point the first time I visited, though that was before fast passes. I just loved the location, cruised Lake Erie and generally chilled as well. Glad you got heaps of rides in. La Wronge is just such a bad park, lovely location, a few good coasters, but they operate their rides with absolute contempt for customers. With a gold flash pass we still had to queue for 45 mins for that crap SLC. I hear you on Vortex at CW, at night, that was one of the most amazing experiences, like someone pushed the fast forward button. The trains were still swinging from side to side in the brake run when I rode it.

^Don't get me wrong I thoroughly enjoyed Helix, it sits just outside my top ten (the lack of a Mitch Hawker poll means I haven't had to think about my personal ratings for a while). It's got a great variety of elements and being on the hill makes it so much more awesome, it reminds a bit of Maverick except without the initial drop. If MW did get something like Helix that would be fine by me, it's a coaster that doesn't get boring after many re-rides, which is good if a big part of the market they're aiming for is repeat visits. At the end of the day we've all got our own preferences, the more extreme the better for me - I did aerobatic flying last year (I'm a shithouse pilot) so I could do something more extreme than a coaster and that wasn't enough lol.

It might take 7 of those 8 minutes to get up that 1000 foot lift hill lol. I'm more intrigued by this project now that Mack is involved, as the in-the-know assessment (people who know but can't tell) seems to be it will be mind boggling, but Mack have built some nice coasters, though nothing OMG or super large (Helix and Blue Fire are 130+ feet and Flash has a drop under 200 feet). Haven't been on Flash, but Helix and Blue Fire I have - they are really good coasters IMO, but didn't blow my mind. Blue Fire's launch is softer than Superman Escape and Helix is so much fun, but it owes a lot to it's interaction with the terrain. At the end of the day, Mack can be commissioned to do any project they are willing to take on, so let's see what happens. I'm sure it will be fun even if it isn't up to lofty expectations or imaginings.

Cool report. Mind Bender is my fave Schwarzkopf, marathoned that when I was there. Monster Mansion is such a colourful, interesting, dark ride, I really liked that - surprising to find a ride like that at a six flags park. And you brought back not-so-fond memories of ball breaker the ride lol. If I recall correctly, the rapids ride there was absolutely insane. Lucky I was staying walking distance from the park so I could change my clothes.

^Yeah but unfortunately for everyone else I had to take the bag off at the end of the maze. In all seriousness the maze got old pretty fast. My fave mazes of all time would have to be the two Michael Myers mazes HHN Hollywood did, if MW did that I'd be happy.

^I did one at Rob Zombie's haunt when it was in LA where you had to wear a bag on your head the whole time in the maze and feel your way through.

Cool, that sounds quite accessible, which gives it broader appeal. I might even ride it lol.

So how intense is the ride, on a scale of 1 to vomitron?

It's just so riveting.

I don't mind what the franchise is as long as it's a good maze. I loved the mazes in 2014, but thought 2015 was a bit of a step backwards. Friday the 13th seemed odd, you see the aftermath of Jason's rampage or you see Jason, but he's was never killing anyone in the maze. I guess I'm used to HHN where Jason is offing someone in spectacular fashion in almost every room. Saw Wyrmwood after Fright Nights, loved it, but the maze seemed kind of anonymous. Wolf Creek seemed to have most of the gory bits removed from 2014 in it's relocated form. I am being picky, it was still a lot of fun in 2014 and 2015 (only years I've been). I am curious about American Horror Story, I've never seen the show, though it seems popular. I'm doing HHN later this month, so I might have some homework to do. Hopefully the maze will make sense even without seeing the show. Looking forward to the Exorcist maze over the other side of the Pacific, this could be incredible or awful, my bet is they'll really pull it off.

I've been looking to book, but I notice they don't have any dates listed beyond September at the moment. I wouldn't mind doing it during the day before the Ultimate Terror Tour at night in October. Hopefully they'll consider it viable enough to continue beyond September.

This coaster is supposed to be monstrous, but Mack haven't built anything bigger than just over 200 foot. Maybe Mack are going bigger than they've gone before? Bu then again a coaster doesn't have to be huge to be awesome...cough...Maverick..cough.

Since when did wishful thinking become actual news?

^Of course they could, and it should be a fun ride. Superman Escape is (debatably) the star at the moment, and another launch coaster doesn't seem like a complimentary attraction (especially in a park with a small number of coasters), that's just my opinion, it will be the bigger coaster that launches in many people's eyes. It will be interesting to see what it turns out being.

I was checking the Mack catalogue to see if they do golf attractions, they don't. It might be something like this: https://rcdb.com/6764.htm

^^^That will be extra challenging, you might have to train for that one. I'd be surprised if they did a launched coaster, it would kind of supersede their number one attraction currently. If you look at what Mack are putting up in China, they are doing lift hill coasters of a hyper size, but with inversions as well as airtime elements.

Better still, construct a huge black dome over it and never tell anyone what it is. I hope in future Star VIP Tours, the walk up the lift hill for this one will be quite challenging.

^I hope they are, I want an Intamin dammit lol (stomps around like Cartman). Now we know it's Mack, the question is are they getting another launched coaster or will Mack build a more traditional hyper or will be something else altogether? Based on riding many of both manufacturers, Intamin and Mack, I personally prefer Intamin because they have a bit more punch, but it still should be a great ride. Ah one question gets answered and now there's many more...

Unless you count a card board cut-out version of dinosaurs alive as a new ride. I think the stuff in the containers is possibly like a new ride.

Yeah, grass and scenery are overrated, let's have a land of make-believe so bad it makes real life seem better lol. Maybe they should get a coaster like the Gold Coast, I'll take a new coaster in Sydney any which way.

Good luck, hope you get the job.

If you can't travel for abandoned theme parks, Luna Park might give you your fix at Halloween lol: "Sydney's biggest Halloween event is back, bigger and better this year as Luna Park Sydney transforms into an abandoned amusement park for Halloscream 4: Return of the Forgotten Funfair. " I was curious and did a search on "standing but not operating" amusement parks on rcdb. Loudoun Castle looks ineteresting: http://www.urbanghostsmedia.com/2015/08/loudoun-castle-scotland-abandoned-amusement-park/