aaronm

Fuji-Q is well worth a return visit to ride the coasters. Eejanaika and Takabisha in particular are both excellent. That park has some of the worst operations I've encountered outside of Six Flags America, but it does have some great rides. Was Space Fantasy open when you visited Universal? That ride is completely bonkers and was the highlight of my visit. Definitely one of those "only in Japan" rides but enjoyable nonetheless. As for Harry Potter, the land is beautifully themed but I was underwhelmed by the ride itself - the transitions between the physical sets and the screens aren't as seamless as similar rides like Transformers and Spiderman. I'm not a big fan of the way it tries to retell the first four films in three minutes either, just ends up a bit muddy. The Gringotts ride in Orlando works better as it only tries to tell a "slice" of the bigger story. For me, Indiana Jones is still the gold standard in dark rides, both the Anaheim and Tokyo versions are brilliant. Definitely visit Disneysea on your next trip, it's probably the most immersive theme park in the world.

^The Aussie parks do seem to love hiding the loading area. Superman, Buzzsaw, HWSW spring to mind. ToT is even behind two sets of doors! Even on Disney rides where you don't see the loading area such as Soarin' and Star Tours, the videos prior to boarding do a great job of demonstrating the procedure (even if it is just a seatbelt).

I agree it would be a shame to see the showstage go, but that would open up quite a bit of space to be used on that side of the park. There's enough room for a decent expansion area in between Arkham and WWF, both of which are kind of "dead ends" at the moment.

Yes I'm aware of that, the ride would need to be on some kind of raised platform I imagine, to allow the water to flow underneath.

Couple of ideas: - test seats for Superman and Scooby would prevent delays from offloading riders who can't get the restraints down far enough. Also good from a guest experience perspective as it saves some embarrassment in the loading area. - a second show in the old Maverick theatre - something along the lines of Universal's Horror Makeup Show (better than it sounds) would work well without requiring a huge cast. - add a family flat ride, perhaps a "shooting" spinner along the lines of Kang & Kodos at Universal Orlando. Adds a decent amount of capacity and big enough to pull adults as well as kids. Could even put this over the swamp between GL and the main park.

Not sure if this has anything to do with the planned attraction, but looks like Superman has a big chunk of downtime in the middle of next year - 18/4-8/5 and then again from 18/7-13/9. Wild West Falls is also getting an extended closure (13/6-28/8) could either be for winter or nearby construction.

On Saturday they had some people out there directing traffic, first time I've noticed that at one of the nighttime events.

Went Saturday night, very similar to last year although at least this time the parade didn't get stuck. Little pop-up entertainment stages (mostly Looney Tunes characters doing a song) worked well. 15 minute waits for Superman, would have been good if Arkham had been opened up as a substitute for Green Lantern (on the event maps but still out of action). For a park that doesn't have a lot of rides to begin with it seems strange that they shutter them up during a capacity event. Only real criticism was staffing of the food & beverage outlets, well below what they needed for the crowd size. Sweet Treats only had one staff member all evening and a very long queue. For what is definitely a high margin product, I'm surprised they didn't have another person in there to help pump through more sales.

Disagree with this. The Gold Coast (or Australia, really) only has one standout rollercoaster. There is definitely room for another headlliner!

Look up photos of Nasu Highland and Grona Lund. It's always possible to fit in more coasters. ?

I'd love to see a Mack mega make its way down here. Helix blew me away last year, and I hear Blue Fire is just as good.

I was mortified to see parents bringing their toddlers in strollers to this event. Fright Nights isn't Mickey's Halloween Party! I don't think there would be anything wrong with Movie World being proactive with a minimum age of 12 or so for this event. No different to cinemas enforcing age restrictions for MA-rated films really - the impact level is about the same.

Took one last ride yesterday on the old trains... good riddance to both those and the terrible queue building. The work to freshen up that side of the park has definitely paid off, looked great yesterday, as does the updated ABC Kids area.

Any noise restriction that cuts in before 7pm is unreasonable IMO. Waterslides don't really have the same noise impact as rollercoasters anyway, no screaming/track rumble.

I think a family event as a counter to Fright Nights could be great for Dreamworld. They're far better off going that angle than doing a competing scare event. Bring out the Dreamworks and ABC characters and you've got a scaled down version of what Disney does for Halloween.

I agree with most of your points, but it's a myth that American parks get a new coaster every year. If you look at Six Flags, they usually add 2-3 new "serious" coasters across the entire chain, so most parks that aren't Magic Mountain have 4-5 years between major additions. Even Cedar Point has only had 3 new coasters in a decade - Maverick in 2007, Gatekeeper in 2013 and Valravn in 2016. That said, Dreamworld is overdue for a major addition, hopefully they put in that Megalite soon!

Jet Rescue is one of the best "family" coasters I've been on, outside of Disney parks. Great mix of speed and moderate force without being too intimidating for younger riders.

The more I ride the harder it is to pin down a favourite, but Balder, Helix, Intimidator 305 and Maverick are all up there.

I rode Space World's Titan back in June, another old Arrow which had just had new trains added. Those trains had S&S-style seats and onboard audio, makes me wonder if Dreamworld will be getting something similar. They were also lapbar-only which I suspect would significantly improve the ride on Cyclone.

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Good to see another tired corner of the park getting an update. Despite not having added that many rides the park is looking a lot better than it did a couple of years back.

^I don't know about that. Can see an Aussie park putting in something like Tivoli Gardens' Daemonen. Still for what it would cost there are better options out there.

Big B&M might be too pricey, but surely a Megalite wouldn't be out of the question? Those things are fantastic.

I imagine the footprint couldn't be huge, so a Premier Sky Rocket (like Tempesto or Discovery Kingdom's Superman) might be a good fit. As for a B&M - something like Daemonen at Tivoli Gardens would probably fit in that space (it's a great ride too!). It'd be good if they could squeeze in a coaster and a family flat ride (*cough* pirate ship) into that area, to help the guest traffic spread out around the park a little more.

Knoebels is fantastic. One of the best "traditional" amusement parks in the world. Also strongly recommend Hersheypark and Busch Gardens Williamsburg. While you're in the area Kings Dominion is very worthwhile too.