downunder

For what it is, it looks OK, but it it is not enough to make me visit DW anytime soon.

The song by Midnight Oil called River Runs Red is in my mind for some reason? At Luna Park Sydney, the old Big Dipper did derail not long before the Ghost Train Fire. Most coasters have upstop wheels these days that should stop derailment, though a Final Destination 3 style catastrophic structure failure could theoretically happen, just remember if it's your time, don't dodge the reaper.

The latest incarnation of LP is pretty weak, the tools who live on the cliff line above LP shut down the big dipper for noise reasons but I think it was more about Big Dipper blocking their view and reducing property values. I used to work at North Sydney when the big dipper was going up, so each day on the train I could see the progress, which was cool. Developers have been trying to get their hands on that piece of land for a long time and little by little they are. A Eurofighter or an exciting indoor coaster (can't complain about noise then) would be great but I don't think there is any chance of that happening.

I agree with being open a bit longer, and it would probably give them justification to increase the admission price a bit. Wild West Falls would be great for Halloween there is so much they could do with that like they do at Knott's. I hope they add some mazes (did have they any this year?) and stuff like that in coming years, which might spread the crowd out a bit more. If I hear it is going to be better next year (I was impressed with this year from the photos), I might even come up for it.

Having ridden a large number of woodies this year, I thought I might be qualified to comment. 1. There has never been a decent woodie in Australia, though I was too young to remember what the Sydney Luna Park original Big Dipper was like, so it's hard to judge woodies on Australian ones. 2. GCI woodies are great, if Kentucky Rumbler was any indication of their quality. 3. Intamin Pre-fabricated woodies like El Toro are unbelievable. 4. Woodies can suck if they were badly designed and/or not well maintained. 5. Woodies can be great if they are well maintained and were well designed, even if the are old, Phoenix at Knoebels was originally built in 1948 and that is still great by all reports.

When Cyclone was at Luna Park you had to walk up stairs to get to the load platform as well, the cliff was on the other side. I can't remember if there stuff like sideshows underneath the platform, possibly the logic of doing it that way was to keep the queue off the midway or maybe to have a shorter lift hill but it seemed odd when it was at Luna Park. Regarding second hand rides, I don't care if it's second hand or new as long as it is a good ride, and IMO Chiller certainly was a good ride.

Unfortunately I have only been able to ride the Robin side and I really liked it, the ride was intense, this was while it still had the zero g roll. I believe some of the problems were with the LIM's, from what I have heard the power drain if they launched both sides at the same time could take out the power grid. I have heard all kinds of stories about LIM's and their power consumption, like that Wicked Twister eats up $50 worth of electricity every ride. Maybe someone more knowledgeable than I can enlighten us? As far being at Movie World I wouldn't mind at all, at 200 foot high I am not sure if this is pushing the limit on height restrictions imposed on Movie World? I really liked the ride, and with a little more TLC than what Six Flags was giving maybe it could be a star. I have been impressed with the two Premier launched coasters I have been on, the other being Flight Of Fear at King's Island which was a fun ride, though if it had still had over the shoulder restraints I would still be in a coma.

I went on Deluge, the hydro coaster at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom last month and that broke down just before I got on it (must have been Alvey and all the big boys riding it) it appeared to be something to do with the conveyor belt at that one. I'm surprised something that is realtively simple like that could break down.

Maverick probably isn't big at 105 feet tall but boy it was good. Top Thrill Dragster owns Kingda Ka, it such a better ride, Dragster was the ride that got me over to Cedar Point.

Let me think about that, first I must consider my top ten: 1. Superman Ride of Steel @ SFNE - Intamin 2. El Toro - Intamin 3. Maverick - Intamin 4. Top Thrill Dragster - Intamin 5. Millennium Force - Intamin 6. X - Arrow 7. Nitro - B & M 8. Magnum XL-200 - Arrow 9. Superman Escape - Intamin 10. Storm Runner - Intamin Not sure, but I think I'll have to go with Intamin. I think the Dive Machine from B & M would make the top ten if I had been on one & Raptor and some other inverts just miss out. B & M have forceful inverts, and without considering their Dive Machine, the rest of their stuff isn't that forceful (relatively speaking) and they all mostly have the same layout with their loopers. If an intamin used Nitro's layout it would be the most insane ride ever.

I haven't been on that many good woodies, I have Ride of Steel and El Toro neck and neck at 1 and 2, I'd rather ride El Toro than any other steel coaster except Ride of Steel, but El Toro is probably not indicative of the average woodie. Going down the list, the standout woodies I have ridden are Ghostrider and Lightning Racer which are well behind my favourite steel coasters, but I think when a wood coaster is done right like El Toro it can be as good or better than most steel coasters. I will be riding Voyage, Hades, Avalanche and many other more top class conventional woodies next month so I will have more information to base my preference on. Most of the woodies I have ridden so far have been mediocre and or at worst jackhammering spine snappers.

Glad you had a great time at Cedar Point, brings back memories of my first time there, going around Cedar Drive past Millennium Force and looking up at it is just awesome. I'll be there for my fourth visit next month, rides aside I think it is a wonderful spot.

I find I don't have a problem if I keep my head back, though it helps that my head is mostly above the restraints. On my last two visits I have only ridden in the front so I don't know if it is better there, from a heading banging perspective. It's still a reasonably good ride but it would be nice if they modified the restraints a bit for rider comfort.

I went on sat June 9 and SE had a particularly bad day, it tested in the morning but before anyone could get on, there was a fire alarm (I don't know if there was an actual fire) and they herded everyone back to the fountain because they said a fire truck was coming. It broke down another three times that I know of, including one that required evac of riders from the launch position. It was a particularly cold day, which I know doesn't agree with Intamin rockets.

I brought the annual pass because it was cheap, I'm in Sydney but I will visit family in brisbane at least twice before the pass expires, so it represents great value. Got my sister one as well for Christmas.

Cool topic, after riding Superman the Escape a little under two weeks ago, I thought it seemed awfully slow, and this topic seems to confirm that it is running well below it's advertised speed. I mainly mainly ride Superman for that long air conditioned tunnel to Ecsape the heat - I personally find both rides (STE and TOT) very boring now. As an aside on electricity consumption, I heard (and I stress heard), that every ride on Wicked Twister consumes $50 worth of electricity which, if true, would amount to a significant amount of money over a season - say 200 rides a day * $50 * 120 days = $1.2m. Chiller at SFGAdv also is supposed to chew up so much power they can't launch both sides at once. Saved me having to raise this at TPR.