downunder

^Was Rainbow the Falling Star ride? I believe that was at Homebush for a while, though I haven't been to the Easter Show in a long time (I only went because I was seeing the Chilli Peppers at Superdome that night), but the last time I was there I did I ride it, very cool ride. A Falling Star would be cool at Luna Park Sydney, and while they're at it, bring in a Hurricane and a Zipper...and an Intamin Strata Coaster (ok just kidding about that last one).

^I thought that may have been the case, I'm pretty sure I rode it at the Easter show. Ah I miss the old Easter Show at Moore Park.

I never went to Fox Studios, but wasn't the current Luna Park Sydney Wild Mouse there (rcdb says so)?

^And it was a bargain, saved me some serious wait times.

^I've seen Samantha Jade in a woolies commercial and she played Kylie Minogue in the INXS mini-series. I know Danni Im is representing AUS at Eurovision. As you see I'm very knowledgeable and not interested enough to google.

Fantastic report, at least you missed the reported 12 hour waits that had been occurring for the new coaster.

^Though Samantha Jade > Danni Im lol (I don't know a single note of either's music).

I'm going ANZAC day long weekend, only time I could fit it in and I managed to get a free spot on the Monday for the Bull Shark thing at Sea World. Might try out the Pit Pass too. The food looks as awesome.

^C'mon, I'd be pretty impressed if I got Press Releases while I was sleep walking LOL. Have movie world even officially announced what October carnie ride is yet (of course we know), let alone the coaster.

Steel Dragon Wagon will be a world record holder in it's class an will thrill riders under 48".

Glad you had a good time. Great Adventure is definitely worth it, El Toro is the bomb and there's plenty of other good coasters (hopefully the NJ Transit express buses are running this time of year from Port Authority Bus terminal on 42nd street). Hopefully you'll get back to Knott's while their Halloween Haunt is on, that's a lot of fun.

The Churro Cart guy has confused me with this tipoff, but they were spot on with Intamin and not a coaster for the current construction. I honestly forgot about RCDB, but I guess time will tell. I thought a lot here like to mass debate just for the hell of it.

Wood Coaster, possibly (and hopefully) Intamin. Don't have a poll, it seems most like a mass debate about this topic.

^Sounds more like Shite Cyclone.

I rode Ghostrider in 2007 in August just before it went down for a month of maintenance, and it was unbelievably rough - definitely please make it stop - my back was starting to spasm towards the end. I go at Haunt time every year and it's generally been bad except the front row, which I always ride (up until last year they had a faux ERT on Ghostrider if you did the Haunt buffet).

^I was at Knott's in October, and I watched how much working they were doing over a few days - they've re-done the entire track, some re-profiling, and mid-course break is gone. Hopefully I'll be doing some marathoning on Ghostie in May. I think Twisted Colossus will battle it out with The Joker for numero uno in Cali IMO.

Here's hoping, I'll be over in May, might even be there opening day - though I'm hoping there might be a soft open before May 27. I'm more curious about what they will do to keep the ride in shape, and what it will be like in 5-10 years. Because what they were doing in the past didn't work, and I've ridden Ghostrider when it was awesome like around 2001, and then by the next time I rode it in 2007 it was unspeakable.

From what I've seen, they close Ghostrider for about a month around September in normal maintenance mode. I go to Knott's Haunt every year after it re-opens and it was always still horrible. If I recall correctly they closed Ghostrider in Sept last year (no getting beat up at Haunt) for a complete revamp by GCI and it's re-opening May 27 this year. I can't comment on Roar at Discovery Kingdom, haven't ridden it, though I should note SFDK isn't open every day (or thereabouts) of the year like Knotts or Busch, even in May it's only open Fri-Sun. And the RMC guys have certainly been there: turning Roar a steel coaster. I guess what I was trying to get at is how many big parks (i.e. their coasters are doing a lot of laps fairly constantly) with 365 days or thereabouts operations - how well have their wood coasters fared in the long run? My personal experience: Gwazi and Ghostrider, not so good. No other examples spring to mind personally straight away that fit that bill.

I'd say some but not all and there are numerous examples, especially in the united states. I really think it comes down to level of maintenance, and the degree of difficulty is much increased with year round operation, especially in parks that have a lot of coasters and other rides to upkeep. The real challenge with Ghostrider will be are they going up the level of ongoing maintenance so it doesn't turn into a pile of crap again.

^^Thanks for the photos, rebar enthusiasts rejoice!

^I hear you, Ghostrider has been in the "please make it stop" category for a while. Hopefully the complete re-work by GCI will do the trick. Yeah Gwazi was a total POS. It seems open every day (or thereabouts), year round operations and woodies don't work out so well. Even with a month off for Ghostrider each year for maintenance, it was still terrible. Hopefully if ever there was any new woodies with year round operations in Australia they would fare better.

I'm thinking the hole will need to be filled by something big. They should give Wet and Wild an extra slide and move the half-pipe coaster over. If this whole thing entails extra churro outlets, then it's a win.

I wonder if there'll be a lot of wood needed in construction?

Fave: Outlaw Run - Silver Dollar City Honourable Mentions - El Toro (Great Adventure), Expedition GeForce, Balder, Maverick, SFNE Superman, Phoenix (Knoebels). Most Hated: Hades - Mt Olympus - this used to be a fantastic coaster, but went on it the year they added the inversion. Asides from the inversion, it was the most brutal I've been on. Truly was hell. Dishonourable Mentions: Wildcat - Lake Compounce, any Zamperla Volare, Goudurix.

I thought you went on Grindr if you were In-ta-min (and a guy, not that there's anything wrong with that). Hopefully they get a couple of other carnie rides to complement the main carnie ride, make it a threesome.