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@DaptoFunlandGuy same honestly. I Googled this and found no usage. Some great insights and pics otherwise.

@Tricoart Note these are not synchronous as the launch starts at 0:33. https://youtu.be/bEPb0cb_yXU Adjusting accordingly, 0:49 on Ride Forces is the vertical loop's apex, so the MBCR entry pops in about -0.9 while the drop off pulls about -0.3. That's decent, although it's not sustained. By "dropping in", you are referring to the MCBR entry not exit, correct? Not that they're even remotely apples-apples, but now I'm curious how Rivals and Levi compare. (Android simp here so I can't check myself).

Overall, I have to agree. It's also stupidly overpriced. I see proportionately way more cycles go out with the back seats empty than filled. If Village were smart, at the very least they'd drop the price to get people on more consistently, which, from a corporate overlord's perspective, would make them more money. That first drop is pretty wild in the back, though. I haven't shared the story here yet of how I got my backwards ride for free. Basically, the app is non-functional (telling you something you already know) on Android so I couldn't purchase in-app. The young guy at the photo booth went out of his way to help me; we tried everything until he called someone up who added a ride coupon onto my account at no extra charge. The actual purchasing process with the half-hour release window sucks because the app simply doesn't work. I think the ops realise that, so I have to give kudos where it's due as they went out of their way. I got a free ride, so I'm in no position to complain. Makes sense but even if Village wanted to do that, I don't know that the automated systems would allow for it. I imagine the train physically can't enter the load station with the restraints down. Another idea, if we could go back in time, would be to design the station to have something like carousel-style or double-sided storage bays rather than free lockers. That would be more efficient year-round, guests could take phones and water bottles into the queue, and you'd still have separate load/unload areas. I've already said so, and as @DaptoFunlandGuy points out, it is a personal preference thing. To reiterate though, to me the forces on ST simply aren't intense enough for the extra whip at the back to account for much. You also get more lateral whip through the horseshoes and the heartline roll when taken with speed. If the layout emphasised air time and/or hang time more, I could see the backwards row as being superior. But it doesn't. I simply prefer the sensation of speed.

True, but not all ejector is created equal. That moment to me isn't powerful or sustained enough for it to be a true standout moment. It hits better than the airtime hill after horseshoe rolls, which really should've been the ejector moment. https://youtu.be/QzoZY9wTvZU According to this Blue Fire video, it peaks around -0.9 G off the brake run, but I find this very hard to believe.

That is a relief and nothing short of a miracle with all the fell trees in the area.

Does anyone have any insight on the extent of animal casualties through the storms? I dread to think but am curious nonetheless.

I did back right and front left and liked the front more. I'll agree there's more force on the spike, but for the rest of the layout, I really didn't feel there were many standout moments of positives or negatives. The heartline roll had better whip taken with more speed in the front, and cutting through the air with an unobstructed view was much more exciting. One concession I'll make is that I rode the back row around midday and the front row on the very last cycle of the day, so it had more time to warm up. It was quite cloudy most of the day, but the sun came through in the mid-afternoon. My stance could change with re-rides, but I will still say with confidence that Taipan does not deliver anything near the forcefulness of Superman, DC Rivals or Levi.

See, they are up-charges and should be separated from the normal ride experience. Full disclosure, I unfortunately missed out on the ST spinning seat (for a few reasons outside of my control), so I can't comment. I'd have to imagine a spinning car would greatly enhance the intensity of those inversions. I've ridden DCR, Levi and ST in front and back rows, and the former two backwards. DCR has the best backwards experience, you're splitting hairs between Levi/DCR for the general experience, and ST rides best in the front. I found ST surprisingly forceless overall with some decent whip through the inversions, although the strongest moment was far and away the heartline roll at the finale. I found the front row with its greater sensation of speed orders of magnitude better than the back. I can't disagree, but for a thrill coaster, layout is the most important factor, and it's a hit in that respect.

It's well-deserved. Besides the stumble out of the gate when it opened and the clunky ops, everything else about Leviathan slaps. The ride is fully-realised in just about every way, and the pacing from drop to brake is virtually flawless. I think it's fair to argue that it has better pacing than DCR; although I'm still putting the latter as my #1 in Australia, I totally respect why many rank Levi (or even SE) higher. As for the second-newest thrill coaster on the Gold Coast... They're entitled to their wrong opinion.

Yes, I'm an idiot. Didn't quite click that that was what I was looking at. So, there's more than enough space there for a Raptor but they're using it currently for storage (?)...

Very interesting. Zadra uses the same restraint system, which I found very comfortable except for some bumping against the shin guards. The lap bar gave considerable upper torso freedom and loads of room for air time, despite my being slightly stapled in on each of my three rides. As for ops, Energylandia across the board has some of the most efficient I've ever seen and Zadra was no different. They cycled us quick. The boarding platform uses a turnstile system which allows a predetermined number of riders through each gate, which was easy to understand and kept the lines moving. The ride experience itself lived up to the hype; every element simply slapped and the pacing never let up for a moment. Best coaster I've done. So, in a nutshell, our experiences were markedly different.

Old Earth image. What's there now?

Porque no los dos? I've never had an overtly bad experience with any op. I feel they largely do their best with what they're given. You do often get an air of dissatisfaction and general lack of enthusiasm about being there, particularly over the peak period. It's not a high-paying job and they do cop a lot. At DW last week, a teenage son tried to cut all the way to the front of Motocoaster where his parents were already queuing and was told off by the op, who sent him out. The dad loudly and aggressively berated the op and called him a "fucking idiot" or similar. The op was the bigger man (figuratively) and walked away. Not "judgy" in so much as just making an observation. You're right that nobody knows with certainty what/how it got through.

In short, yes. Disney queue line theming is best-in-class, so at the very least you're thankful to be not standing out in the sun surrounded by topiary and shrubbery and walking up to at a shed. Although, I'd probably have to fork out on line skips if I was on limited time. Sue Bob Iger. Granted though, this is a bit of an oxymoron. I would leave my enthusiast mindset at the front gate and just enjoy the experience for what it is. Honestly and FWIW, Sky Voyager was one of the highlights of my Dreamworld trip last week. An amazing day can be had of experiences like that, especially if they're on that Disney level. Still would be pumped for Tron, Rock'n'Roller etc. Would depend on how good the value is in a package deal. It probably is but I haven't looked into it. I wouldn't see myself losing sleep over missing Animal Kingdom or the water parks tbh. @franky that's a shame about your Busch experience. How was Iron Gwazi? It'd be really interesting to pit it against Zadra, particularly with their respective wave turns and inversions.

Great pics and summary! Gives me major FOMO that I've never been to a Disney park. I suppose there's no "off-season" and it's busy year-round... If I'm in Florida, you bet USF/IOA, SeaWorld and Busch Gardens are top-priority, but I think I'd have to bite the bullet and do the Disney thing too. If I were to set aside, say, two days, would you say Epcot and MK are the must-dos? Also, what are the linear/lateral forces like on Tron? I imagine those LIMs aren't too intense, but in the POV it looks like it packs a bit of a punch.

Purely speculative, but it could well have been a hijab or similar that blew off during the ascent.

I read beautifully. The stoppage occured on the lift hill, not during boarding. They should've picked it up before that happened. "This comes just seven years after..."

Well that's a fountain of piss on the bonfire. I wonder how this was not picked up by ride ops...

Yep, I'd be surprised if this wasn't the case. This would be the way for guests to "follow the Yellow Brick Road" into the Land of Oz, as envisioned in the announcement. So: blue is the main entrance, purple the side entrance, and red (you feel as) superfluous and being closed off. It could still be a side-entry, or a "back-way", if you like, into/out of the repurposed Arkham building, leading to the SFC. Even if it is kept open, the general guest flow leads down Main Street anyway, and with appropriate signage and updated park map, the main entrance would still be the most-utilised as intended. However, I'll agree that it's not necessary to keep open, just that it will create a loop and help distribute some foot traffic. The green circle (if I'm not mistaken) is a BOH storage extension that protrudes into the alley, and I would hope this will be removed to widen the alley. I think this will happen in the future, but I'd rather they develop the area behind Wild West first to remove the dead-end in a meaningful way. It's been said before, but there's enough room to do a new section of the park back there and still utilise it for FN mazes. If/until that happens, I don't think there's much need to connect the pathway back that way.

Add to that a lot of them would be on a casual basis, so there'd be little to nothing in compensatory measures due to long-term closures. I like the idea of the old Chinatown being used as the main entrance, and I'm sure it's at least occured to VR. @Baconjack I wouldn't consider it wishful thinking. Concept art is exactly as its name suggests, all subject to change and refinement. It'd be bizarre to have the main entrance tucked away behind Superman; it "worked" for Arkham because there was still some thematic cohesion. Where I'll disagree with you @themagician is that I think there still needs to be a side entrance to create a loop-around. If Chinatown is dressed up as the main entrance, it'll be more popularly used, as foot traffic for families usually heads straight down Main Street to the WB Zone anyway. A side-entrance behind Superman would be fine. It's not like room is a luxury, so in a footprint that tight, inevitably different themes will be a hodgepodge smashed together. Not that it was avoidable, but just look at the Leviathan entrance next to Nickelodeon Land.

Others above have already explained that there are solvable operational issues at MW that are compounding the weather-related problems, but there’s a running theme of you simply not reading or understanding what peoples’ criticisms are. You initially said (likely ostensibly) that you didn’t even read my post and proceeded to completely mischaracterise what I’d said. That’s been par for the course so far, so all you’ve done is make an ass out of yourself (again). The mental gymnastics needed to elaborate to a means comprehensible for you would be fruitless. I could very meticulously deconstruct for you why your take is garbage, but by your own admission, you won’t even read the post. So, you’re right Skeet, as you always are. Everyone at Movie World deserved a bad experience this week and the potential for ameliorated operations would have changed nothing. Enjoy your prize (no givebacks).

I'm sure that your attitude of "well, if the sooks didn't enjoy their experience today, they shouldn't have come" would pay the parks in dividends.

The most appropriate response to vapid shitposting is to ignore it until it skeets away.

Well, besides sending our best wishes to the staff member in question, you and I clearly have nothing to discuss.

I redirect you to my post above to read through, just in case you have anything more than a vacuous one-liner to share.