WalleyWorld

There is a trend that Funfields seem to follow, where major investments occur every 2 years. The Wacky Waters water play area opened in late 2011, then 2 years later, the Typhoon bowl slide opened in late 2013, and then another 2 years, the Kraken Racer opened in late 2015. My bet would be for next season, a late 2017 opening for the the new Tornado Wave slide.

@AlexB Yep!

Funfields is getting it's own VR experience, transforming the Blackbeard's Fury pirate ship into "Dragon's Fury VR". Very interesting to see if the pirate ship motion will translate well into a VR experience. It's cool to see a small park dive head first into the VR craze. Fingers crossed they pull it off well.

I think I have made some sense of Jamberoo's decision of installing a very similar slide. This is not the first time something like this has happened in the industry. In 2010, Holiday World & Splashin' Safari installed a Proslide Hydromagnetic watercoaster named Wildebeest. When it opened it was the world's longest watercoaster. It was a huge success for the park. Based off of that success, Holiday World thought: "We need a high capacity ride to soak up these crowds we did not anticipate, we've proven that the public loves watercoasters; everyone loves this type of ride! Let's build another to improve our capacity and differentiate it slightly by themeing it differently". The new watercoaster, aptly named Mammoth, opened only 2 years later. Essentially it was the same ride experience/ride type but with a different layout, round 6-passenger boats and longer than Wildebeest; becoming the longest watercoaster in the world. Although I still don't get why Jamberoo chose the same sort of colour palette.....weird.

Proslide just posted a set of photos of the new slide on their Facebook page. The 1st small tornado is open, 2nd is closed, and the big/standard sized tornado is open.

I took a few POV's and offride footage whilst at the Melbourne Show this year. So expect to see more over the next few weeks/months. Here's a 60fps POV of the classic Breakdance (owned by Frank Laurie, manufactured by Sobema). Enjoy!

During testing, Doomsday Destroyer ran a 3 revolutions forwards and backwards cycle. Lucky for us, @Theme Park Girl took a video of this! During the 2nd revolution is when the ride amps up the rpm. So maybe more noticeable/stronger g-forces during that revolution??

Probably just teething issues at the moment; give operations a month or two to get it working smoothly. Thanks for the operations insight @JaggedJanine. "6-8 dispatches' every 30 mins" = 16 dispatches/hr, that's 16*20 people = 320 pph....that's very low capacity for peak periods. I wonder if MW would ever consider getting a 2nd train for Arkham? By the sound of it, the ride has once again become a popular attraction, and even more so now with the addition of VR.

Yep! All of Dreamworld's rides that require you to 'secure all loose articles' have some sort of pigeon hole/storage box/storage container, that you can chuck your stuff in. Obviously it's not as secure as a safe. I have never had anything stolen.

I'm also confused as to why Jamberoo decided on another Tornado for a new slide?? And they chose very similar colour schemes??? There are plenty of other high capacity raft waterslides they could have installed. As @Aw hype said, an enclosed Behemoth Bowl with sound and lightning effects would have been perfect for this theme.

I had a chance to visit the Royal Melbourne Show during this week. Very well organised this year, with lots to see and do. The ride selection this year was fantastic, heaps of variety for all age groups and thrill-seeker levels. The Beast (KMG XXL) did not disappoint. The ride dominated the skyline, and everyone that walked past ogled at the ride. It's definitely an impressive sight, especially when the gondola flies above the mid-way path. The motion of the ride is very smooth and comfortable, making for a very re-rideable ride. The biggest surprise for me is that it didn't feel 'portable', it felt like a permanent park model flat ride. The height at the top of the swing, and the speed you hit at the bottom of the swing are both breathtaking moments. It is thrilling, but not too extreme compared to rides like Freestyle, No Limit or Rebel. I still think the Claw at DW delivers a slightly better ride; it's motor feels more aggressive - heaving you down as you reach the top of the swing - making you come out of your seat. The Beast doesn't offer airtime as intense as the claw, perhaps it's to do with the seats facing inwards. Overall, a very solid ride that I could ride over and over again. Here's a POV I shot:

@Zanstabar thanks for the review! Is there sound that accompanies the VR? If so, do you wear headphones or have they fixed the on-board audio on the trains? Sounds very promising, and can't wait to give it a go. I think the the two flat rides at MW, Batwing and Doomsday, would lend itself to VR enhanced experiences quite well. VR on WWF is just a dumb idea for very obvious reasons.

Thanks for the pics @Theme Park Girl. The little touches, nods to other rides and overall effort they are putting into this area is amazing! Cannot wait for this to open. Let's hope this area sets a theming precedent for all new/upcoming areas, attractions and rides @ movieworld.

Yeah the Infinity looks insane! It reaches a height of 65 metres when it goes upside down/over the top.

The KMG xxl (The Beast) is a marvel of engineering and design. I find it amazing how a 40 metre tall pendulum structure (with a swing height of 47 metres - much taller than the claw @ dreamworld) can operate without the need for permanent concrete anchorage, AND then can neatly pack up into three semi-trailers, AND assemble/dissasemble itself without the need of a crane! I find the portability aspect of all carnival rides fascinating. They are extremely complex when you think about how much there is to consider when designing such things. Here's a teaser to the set-up video:

I wonder how much a new KMG XXL is worth, plus shipping to AUS. Double digit millions? And then how much in petrol/diesel it would cost is transport it around! I say it wouldn't be cheap. The Beast is $20 a ride, or $30 for 2 rides at the RMS this year. Not cheap to ride!

The ride looks beautiful! Perhaps next year, during it's maintenance period, I would love to see an overhaul of Superman's themeing and surrounding ride area. Kind of like how IOA overhauled The Incredible Hulk Coaster, minus the re-tracking. If they did such an update, this would be the dream: 1) fix the 10 year old locker problem, by making the lockers free (like universal). 2) Theme the queue to an underground/subway station platform 3) Create a new safety video 4) Upgrade all the dark-ride effects to opening day standard, and introduce more elements 5) Bring the smoke/steam effects back. 6) Place a facade over the white studio shed to make it look like the daily planet office building that is beginning to crumble under the effects of the earthquake. 7) Make the entrance look like a subway entrance

Came across this interesting video, where the dispatch times of Six Flags Great America's rides (mostly coasters) are recorded.The most insightful part of the video though is when they compare the dispatch time of Superman Ride of Steel, without VR, and then with VR The difference is night and day......Let's hope Arkham does not turn out like this. It would be cool to see a video like this for all of Movieworld's rides.

http://www.weddedwonderland.com/historic-deal-has-just-been-made-for-a-disneyland-themed-park-in-this-aussie-city/

I think one of these would be perfect for Wet'n'Wild. Yes there is a watercoaster down the road, but the 'flying saucer' elements would, I think, set it apart from the hydrocoaster at WWW. http://www.proslide.com/rides/rocketblast-flyingsaucer/

I've changed my mind. I think it'll be a multi-launch hypercoaster. Like Helix at Liseberg, but, with a hypercoaster type layout similar to the Flash at Lewa Adventure. I know I could be wrong about the ride being themed to the Flash DC character. But if it is, a multi-launch would be perfect. A chain lift start for a Flash themed ride would just seem like a missed opportunity.

damn..... That ride lineup is ok, but nothing spectacular. Space Roller, Speed, Orbiter, Nitro and XXXL are all good rides though! The Royal Melbourne Show ride lineup hasn't been announced yet. But here goes my prediction: Avenger (KMG Discovery 2.0) Rebel (KMG Inversion) Speed2, or, Freestyle (KMG Speed) The Beast (KMG XXL) Rock'n'Roll or Thunder Bolt (would be awesome if the TB came to melbourne, it's a more wild ride compared to R'nR) Hangover Mega Drop Python Loop Pirates Revenge (log flume) Break Dance No Limit Dodgems Hollywood Horrors Power Surge Alien Abduction Crazy Coaster (Spinning Coaster) Techno Jump Taipan Maybe pile: FreakOut (KMG Freakout). Considering 'The Beast' is a bigger, better version of this ride, the Freakout may not show. Hardrock. Same thing, this is very similar to the FreakOut, the show organisers might deem it too similar. I'm sure there will be more/i've missed out on some. But it's looking like a great selection this year.

^Me three. Although my prediction leans more towards a Flash themed, launched hyper coaster, with a semi-shuttle layout. Reasons: The shape/area of the land being cleared suits an out-and-back hypercoaster style layout. The location of the coaster is close to the 'dc superhero hub'; perfect for another DC superhero themed ride, and area (lakeside precinct??) to branch off from the end of the path that runs between green lantern and justice league. The new coaster is expected to open between the release dates of the Justice League movie (Nov 2017) and the standalone Flash movie (March 2018). Both feature the Flash character. Perfectly timed movie/ride tie-in. A hypercoaster has been hinted at for ages through the forums and Richard's Parkz news posts. Where the ironically named 'Flash' hypercoaster built by Mack has been posted as an example multiple times - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvKFdHFo7J0. MoviePark Germany is currently building a Mack launcher, with a semi-shuttle coaster layout themed to Star Trek. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtS706EPcIY I may be half right, but regardless, this is going to be a spectacular ride and something that will put Movieworld on the world's stage. Very excited!

I really like @Tim Dasco's idea of a star flyer, 'vertical swing' type ride. It also fits what Mark has told us about. Being the tallest in Australia won't be too hard, as I think their is only 1 portable starflyer ride in aus (it's not that tall). The cutting edge feature that Mark describes, "will literally launch guests to new heights", might just be a very fast ascent to the top?

Yeah it does look like you're losing some great rides for the PRS this year....@iwerks & @Tim Dasco. Do the PRS/RMS organisers have a say as to what rides they get :/ ? Or is it up to the carnival ride operators like Chants and Goldenway Amusements? On a side note, when you think about it, Australia has a great travelling ride selection. And it keeps growing, with new rides being bought regularly in recent years. Since 2013, from KMG alone, Aus has received The Beast (KMG XXL), Avenger (KMG Discovery 2.0), Rebel (KMG Inversion), Speed 2 (KMG Speed), Freak Out (KMG Freakout).