downunder

If Lethal Weapon was in the US or Europe, I'd say give us all blow torches and we'll melt it into a big lump of metal, but like what people have observed it's one of the better coasters in Australia and we need any coaster we can get. If it was existing at the expense of getting a better coaster in it's place then I'd have a different opinion. Hopefully the new trains will solve the head banging problem. The new trains on the Morey Piers SLC completely took head banging out of the equation (not KumbaK's though), then you're just left with the jerky transitions and a feeling you've done this in a thousand other places. At least LW has the bonus helix.

My objection to Mulholland Madness is that it is such a cookie cutter coaster, among so many amazing attractions - I don't hate it so much as it is so mediocre. On reflection though, Gadget's Go Coaster is extremely lame, even though it's a kids ride they still could have done much better.

My fave: Indiana Jones Worst: Mulholland Madness

I thought that seat smelt funny. I guess it's all relative, I just about shat myself on the Star Flyer at Tivoli in Copenhagen, I couldn't wait for it to end. They were pretty much a double seat version of a wave swinger seat suspended by chains. It did not inspire the slightest feeling of security. I shudder to think what the lines will be like now for Green Lantern, and everything else for that matter. Would positioning rides at the front of the park like the have with GL give MW less noise hassles with their neighbours, do noise issues with neighbours limit development options?

I rode the Windseeker at Knott's at night, and it wasn't that exciting, you just feel too safe on those for them to be thrilling. I think Movieworld can do better than that. On the flip side, the star flyers (where you just have chains supporting you and you swing freely) are terrifying. I went on the 23rd having no idea whether GL would be open or not. I watched a fair bit of the media thing before the park opened. They had problems with the restraints on the train we were supposed to get on. Luckily after some twiddling and a few test runs we got our first ride. It will be interesting to see what the next few additions will be at MW. The cynic in me says they'll just to do a new mission for Batman, and re-jig Looney Tunes, but I guess We'll have to wait and see.

I was fortunate enough to ride GL on Friday, it's a solid addition. We definitely got sucker punched by the sudden brake stop, I'm sure they'll iron out that bump. The upside down hang time should thrill the masses. Also, I was surprised to ride Superman in the rain, haven't been to MW in 5 years or so, possibly they are less anal with their wet weather policy. On a side note, went to Sea World today - Jet Rescue and snorkelling in Shark Bay both rocked.

SFMM is a must do as people have said, a large number of coasters, some of them quite impressive. Keep in mind it will only be open on weekends until the last week of March, if that's the case go on a Sunday. Knott's should be absolutely dead on a week day in March (it's open everyday) so it's worth doing because you can get it done very quickly. Disney is a must-do, especially if you've never been before. California Adventure is okay, if you've got to choose maybe not. Universal should be pretty dead too. The bottom line is have a look at the park websites and work out which parks have the most stuff you want to do and prioritse accordingly based on what you like.

This was such a fun, cheesy ride, but I can understand why it has to move on to the big theme park in the sky.

I had Superman Escape at #41 on my last Mitch Hawker poll, launched coasters I had ahead of it were: Dragster, Kingda Ka, Maverick, iSpeed, Blue Fire, Storm Runner, Xcelerator, Flight of Fear * 2, Lynet & Fluch von Novgorod. So it had some extremely hot competition. Making my top 50 puts SE in the top 10% of coasters I've been on, so that's pretty good. I estimate Buzzsaw would be doing well if it made my top 300, but I'll have to ride it and work that out - maybe next week.

I agree that it's a world class ride, and has many unique features - the best ride in Australia IMO. I understand midget Superman isn't the focus of the ride, and I'll just continue to find it a source of amusement. As long as the coaster is good, I couldn't care less if they had midget Superman dry humping the train from behind doggy style. I'm a hard marker for rides because I've had a chance to travel a bit, and I think your perception of a ride changes the more rides you've experienced and parks visited. For instance I thought Magic Mountain was the ants pants until I went to Cedar Point, but then Cedar Point lost a lot of it's lustre when I rode coasters like El Toro, Phoenix, Boulder Dash, Balder, and Super Ride of Steel (aka Bizarro). I also think there's a divergence of opinions on theming and no one's wrong, we all have our preferences. I prefer thrills over theming, but if a ride has theming and it adds to the ride then I'll enjoy it. Sometimes even simple theming can really work, for instance Top Thrill Dragster makes every ride seem like an event with the Christmas Lights, audio, mini grand stand, and speed read out on a sign.

So no grand opening today???? (hint: sarcasm). My bet would be boxing day. If it opens on or before Friday or Saturday next week I'll probably go, otherwise I'll check out all the new attractions at Dreamworld since my last visit in 2003.

I personally don't think the silly looking midget Superman is the point of the ride. The people on the ride can't see him while their riding so it doesn't impact the ride experience, all they need to hear is the Superman audio and launch to get the concept. Everytime I see the little tacker attached to the back of the train I cringe, it looks so much smaller than a regular sized human being. Overall I really like the theming of the coaster, and I think it makes Superman unique in the coaster world. Though I'd happily trade all the theming for more airtime hills or some maverick-style inversions.

I wouldn't mind if they lost the pygmy Superman off the back of the train, I've always thought that looked silly even if it is part of the theme - I.e. Superman pushing the train.

They paid $16 million for Lethal Weapon, what a rip-off, unless a fair chunk of that went into the surrounding buildings etc, and the exchange rate might not have been that good back then (compared to now) if the deal was done in US dollars.

What I meant to say is that two parks put in similiar coasters, even though I'm led to believe Jet Rescue is superior (I haven't been on either yet). I get the impression the GC parks don't think they need to add a single uber attraction ($15 million +) to meet growth targets. Bottom line is they are businesses.

I wasn't planning on going to Movie World just before Christmas, now I'm going to have to. Ian, if 1% of the world are Theme Park Fans that makes me very afraid: 70 million of them gravy lovers. It's a solid addition, at least we didn't get another buzzsaw (Jet Ski / Motocoaster).

Hopefully they won't neuter GL with trims. Damn, if it opens before Christmas that complicates my Gold Coast theme park visiting plan.

At HHN in Hollywood, they close the Terror Tram line at 9pm (2 hours after opening) now on nights other than Fri and Sat. Apparently the noise annoys the Hollywood hills residents. It's a shame Movie World can't open at night other than Fright Nights, I'm assuming this is a nimby issue. I've found from my travels a lot of coasters are seriously good at night. Rode Xcelerator at night last month, holy moly it was cranking, and then it broke down for the rest of the night.

It sounds like the event is getting better every year, even though capacity seems like a challenge. If I don't do the US haunts one October I may have to head up. Does the NIMBY factor limit operating hours? Even HHN in Hollywood has that problem.

The non-coaster enthusiast public are the ones who make up the majority of the market, from a commercial perspective their opinion is far more important than mine. I think Disney has shown how successful you can be if you can attract families, albeit they have always had the capital to build amazing attractions. I'm more impressed by Lantern than Buzzsaw personally, though I've got both parks down as "could do better" from my perspective. I'm going to the Gold Coast for the first time since 2007 just before Christmas, and I'm not that excited. I plan on going to Dreamworld and Seaworld, both of which I haven't been to since 2003. Movieworld I'll only go to if they soft open Green Lantern just before Christmas. I really feel for the amount of money thay spent on this attraction they could have got something much better. To be fair though I've been to parks all over the world so I'm seriously jaded, my last major coaster riding session was riding El Toro 20 or 30 times in a day (I've had a couple of odd rides since then, but nothing major).

Universal Studios Hollywood - Halloween Horror Nights: absolutely amazing event, the mazes were top notch this year, except for Wolfman which was very good, but paled in comparison. It's a very intense experience.

On-board audio is okay, wouldn't sell me though. Blue Fire is bizarre, it has a heart rate monitor like an exercise bike. BTW Blue Fire has excellent restraints. I'm hoping this will soft open just before Christmas, that would be very good by me.

1. El Toro 2. Balder 3. Phoenix 4. Boulder Dash 5. Bizarro (Six Flags New England) 6. New Texas Giant 7. Goliath (Walibi World Holland) 8. Nemesis 9. Montu 10. X2 Ones I haven't ridden that I think would be probable top ten: Intimidator 305, Expedition GeForce, Kawasemi, T-Express.

And drum roll please.... Cedar Point with Dinosaurs Alive - okay maybe not. There's more to come as well, in particular I'm watching with interest to see what Dollywood will be adding, the rumours are 212 foot wingrider but we'll have to wait and see. Sea World San Diego will get Manta which looks a similiar sort of coaster to Cheetah Hunt, and also Busch Willimasburg will get probably get something like that too. It will be very interesting to see if Knott's get their rumoured 340 foot hyper, they deserve something decent. Also I'm wondering if Everland in Korea will have their replacement for Eagle's Fortress ready in 2012. From what I've been told, it will be something f****ed up.

I love the look of this, it's a shame it's at Fuji-Queue. The regular 100' Eurofighters are a lot of fun, so a 140' plus launched Eurofighter should be insane.