pazzap

apparently sonic spinball collided also. The truth is and i believe alton on this, that two carriages "nudged" each other in the station, but the media and well, idiots, are doing everything they can to dramatise every single possible thing they can regarding the poor park. I mean really, those people should be ashamed of themselves. I have done theme park tours and gotten stuck all the time, it's to be expected. I have had air gates failed so 3 hours delayed, stuck at end of brake run for an hour, valleyed, failed launch, you name it.. big deal.. such drama. Regarding the other girl losing her leg too, that indeed is horrifying though. Very sad.

Oh my goodness Zanstabar! By the way everyone please feel free to call me by my real name, Theo. Hey in a way i can only imagine what a terrifying experience that must have been but in another, and I hope this doesn't come across wrong, how fortunate in the long run that you didn't actually have cancer. The tapes are a few metres away from me in the living room, i do need a way to play through them to find the right one. Hey i would watch it straight through if i could and if nothing too full on on there personal wise, I would send it to the first person who could help. The problem is the tapes are unmarked ( i was notoriously known for it) and i would have to go through about 8 of them to find it., You know when you think you will never lose something and don't take precautions? It's that - and now i regret it. Cause now I no longer even have a VCR.. sure i could go and buy a mini vhs to vhs adapter cassette (and it does work with these as i used it once at a friends house many moons ago), but I don't have a vhs player to test it! Not for a decade now! If someone has a spare camera that can play the mini camera tape format from the 90's, or vhs player they can send (i could find a cheap adapter on ebay or if you have one too, great), i *do* have a sony crt in my room with all the necessary old school connections and could hook it up, it's only a few feet away from me. I would begin that immediately if someone could help out. I am in Melbourne eastern suburbs. I really want to do this for you guys, and for myself to be honest.. Believe it or not i still remember the layout clearly.. "she's gonna blow" as you leave the lift hill, straight into what looks like a wall but then a mad mouse turn outside, i remember the dips but mostly i loved it cause I am 6ft 4 and i kept thinking i would hit my head, which scared me the most especially since I wasn't a total thrill addict back then. I also thought it was the smoothest mad mouse of all time, as well as the best themed and most fun. Also it was really unbraked Even scooby didn't de throne it for me as there was just something being in what felt like a "legit" mine cart racing away abandoned through the mines. It was a special ride. If i had a choice though, of it being reopened or somehow safely torn down and a new coaster, i would actually prefer they restore it, and rip down the horrible cyclone (i just don't understand how that aged so badly when it was so good at LPS) and replace that instead

I appreciate that (Will?). I wasn't offended but I did need to clarify what was going on, you were actually right to bring it up. Life has been a bit hell, i was a music producer all my life and lost one ear completely due to a tumor, then I found my love of thrills and now my back. I went every year from 2001 through 2008 to the USA and had the time of my life. In 2011 I managed a GC trip and did whatever i could. I did the skycoaster at the little park in surfers and that was the beginning of the end. I had done the slig shot like 100 times with my cousin (now that footage i DO have digitally and it is hilarious), and we sat on the vomitron all day.. she gave us so many free rides cause she was just cracking up at our complete lack of expression but all the silly poses we were doing (like sleeping, mediating like buddah, etc LOL - yes am a big kid). Then i did the skycoaster.. I had never done one and always wanted to.. It was getting into the suit that should have tipped me off, the contorting didn't feel right. We pulled the cord excitedly, and I honestly thought I was in for a surprise, and just like bungee, we were both underwhelmed. It was like there was just no sensation. In case we missed something we did it straight away again, and i heard a crack on the way down.. I was bed ridden the rest of the trip, then i visited an osteopath back in melbourne, and he misdiagnose me (I had bulging and desiccated discs, had he done a scan i wouldn't be in this predicament today). He cracked me from top to bottom multiple times, and after that I could barely walk out of his practise. i told him i felt 10x worse than when i walked in, and he said it would pass. It only got worse..and worse... So i had an MRI and bits of my disc had broken off lodging and stuck in various nerves.. the specialist assured me it was the osteo cracking that snapped it, and so did another osteo, he said it's his fault, 100%, and he operated to remove the broken bits and also gave me cortisone but he said bar an entire disc replacement there is nothing he can really do... just to have pain pills and treat myself well as surgery is the last resort.. He told me as long as i was strapped in a coaster securely, it "should" be ok once i felt better, but never to bungee and similar stuff again as long as I live. So I haven't been on a ride of any kind in over 4 years. For an enthusiast that's hell believe me. And now I was feeling better and planning a trip next year, and a couple months back i had a turn again and saw him again and once again he said pain pills and rest.. so I am going to get another opinion as i would rather just operate, go through it, and have it done and dusted. He seems very reluctant, this guy. The Eureka days bring lots of fun memories cause it was my favourite coaster in OZ back then by far. I actually remmeber that trip like it was yesterday.. me and my best mate drove from melbourne and had a crazy theme park few days and it was a blast, and we video'd everything.. heck i even have a POV a few years later of the big dipper at luna park sydney at night.. with NO restraints on! (the ride was smooth and fast pre cyclone and the gforces kept you right in your seat)..The ops went around without restraints and were doing it all night, we were like the only ones there, but i wouldn't do that. But i got them doing it LOL. All this amazing footage i have to find and go through and if i could motivate myself i would. Sorry for the marathon but just also wanted to explain my sudden disappearance from here years back. I promise you all this.. when i go through the tapes, i will do whatever it takes once found to get it to you guys ASAP. Please just give me a few months at most to recuperate again. Cheers (in bed with laptop table writing this )

It was actually me, and no I wasn't lying, at almost 43 am far to old to play silly games.. The problem is I am just too unwell to go through all the footage to find it, as I am spending 95% of my days on oxycodone bed ridden. I still don't even have a way to play it. I am moving in a few weeks also and absolutely dreading it, as my back is unable to hold me up. Just saw the back specialist and it's not good, so next year's trip might have to be cancelled which is really depressing me. I have lots of those aging mini vhs tapes unmarked and i wish i could just send them to someone who wanted to find the POV that badly to just go through it all and find it.. you would find lots of old school POV there from 90's to 2001, but unfortunately there is other very personal stuff there and i just can't do that. Most of those have pov on the web now anyway (six flags america, busch williamsburg, all the aussie parks inc old school corkscrew from 15 years ago, etc) but the one thing there is no POV of is eureka which is why i think it would be so cool to find mine and upload it. I was in my 20's at the time and a bit of a dick so you will have to excuse the idiocy in the vid once i finally do find it. I am very sorry if anyone feels I was being untruthful and I can understand from your perspective how it may seem that way.

​That was actually mind blowing. She might actually be the most stupid, rude ignorant and downright unintelligent person in the news business today.

​EXACTLY. You said it perfectly Richard. The way the media has sensationalised perfectly acceptable minor issues here and there (always to be expected from a ride of this size anyway).. well let's just say the Americans have nothing on them. This surely was a terrible accident, and my heart goes out to all those affected.. I don't know if it's true but the reports say riders were stuck for 4.5 hours.. and if that IS true, THAT is the most unacceptable thing.. Besides working out how the accident happened, they should also work heavily on their emergency response. I also think it's a bit dramatic to suddenly shut down all their gerstlauer coasters at all Merlin Parks. The media even says "Saw, a similar ride". Similar in what way? Saw and the Smiler are like saying Oprah Winfrey looks like Ben Stiller. Totally different car design, totally different scale of coaster. Basically, beyond the sincere sadness I feel for those that were injured, it's the media and merlin themselves turning into epic proportions. And to scrap it , or even talk of it.. over one accident, where there were no fatalities? I don't agree. Heck if Disney scrapped every ride they had had an accident with, they would have gone broke a long time ago. This is all a bit OTT to say the least, and instead of us focusing on those who truly deserve our attention, those injured.. it seems merlin and the media are the ones taking the spotlight with ridiculous claims and assumptions.

​Just speculation at this stage.. and i really hope it doesn't..

Thanks. Yes i rememeber the bouncing as you describe it, and therefore haven't ridden it since around 15 years back. powersurge is listed on website as currently closed.

Oh cool re the dragon! nice find. I wish they could put a new coaster in.. I mean the guy that owns it is so wealthy he really CAN afford it, and these days there are truly compact solutions he could go for. Perhaps he needs to talk to people like us for suggestions! BTW AW might have weight limit but I am 88 KG.. so basically I am slim to average for my height. Only thing I have ever been rejected riding before this was deja vu at SFMM, and I am right on the "ok" threshold for intamin bizarro, etc. Deja vu was a 6'3 limit and I am 6'4. But work this out... the EU version (stunt fall) and the silverwood version (bought from six flags) are both 200cm.. yet the one at SFNE is still 190. It's all so weird. It doesn't make any sense.... and they let me ride dejavu after a slight body bend when i took my shoes off and was barefoot and I am still alive to tell the tale. I wasn't even *close* to any issues with restraints or legs hitting something. Anyway, if anyone does ever find out re the PS let me know. FWIW I am going to email zamperla and ask them why that one installation has the limit and no other PS in the world does. I don't expect they will answer but maybe they will and surprise me. Back to LPM... how bumpy is the scenic railway these days? OP was saying it was rough but airtime.. even when a kid and light i can't ever remember getting airtime on that in front or back seat. Are they still using the brakeman or have they adopted new trains? Is it a total back breaker or just "unpleasant" sort of thing? I remember when fox bought it i genuinely got excited as i for some reason believed he was going to inject millions into it and make it the best it could be. How wrong I was! Oh well, I can still dream....

correct.. the adventure world one has no upper height limit nor does any other i can find.. luna park is truly exclusive in this matter and I am stumped and they don't have an answer for me as to "why". I have ridden the show ones, a couple OS too, no issue. So.. I guess i need to get myself to perth to ride abyss anyway, so i can enjoy the PS there instead. No other option lol.

So much for FOX promising to make this place awesome again. One thing I can't understand is I am not allowed to ride the powersurge there as the max height is 190cm and I am 193. The thing is I have ridden them all around and i have never seen one with a height requirement under 200cm before, anywhere in the world. In fact trying to google such a thing just brings up the luna park page as it really seems to be the world's only power surge with a maximum height of 190. Does anyone know why, even the faintest clue? To have a decent flat so close to home and not be able to ride it is indeed frustrating.

Thanks everyone for help.. first yes definitely said it's gonna blow, and the first turn has an amazing headchopper style effect. Thanks to all those who have given me such great advice re the video, i will be contacting who I need to shortly. Thanks again to all.

yeah i even remember buying some sort of converter for it at one stage so it could fit in a big vhs tape (like a shell converter) but have no clue where it is. Certainly won't be paying just to put a POV of a coaster up as ever penny for the next 12 months has to go towards trip as i haven't been *anywhere* in 6 years and am going a bit insane. Very happy with the quality of what my friend puts on youtube (for example some old fast forwards skits from old vhs tapings of it and they came up great) so when i find a cam or converter cassette will get him to do it. A way to play it is first priority so i can find the tape as nothing is labeled properly. Then have to go through everything which will be tedious but worth it. That I'm willing to do, but spending money right now I just can't. Hope you understand.

Hey just curious when will the style of ride no longer be a secret? As in, when is the official announcement planned? I am really really hoping it is some sort of water ride that is record breaking in the thrill sense but can also be ridden without getting topless and into swimmers.. maybe a huge flume drop for example.

Did you do phoenix in back or front? New coaster will be nice imo but not "killer", but certainly a great addition for a park that currently doesn't have any inversion coasters. Sure, it will definitely make knoebels an overall more complete and fun day though. It's funny cause the most fun we had there was this kiddie coaster (now defunct) called the "high speed thrill coaster". It was hilarious and the OP was just so cheerful and friendly and was high fiving everyone on each station pass through and said he hadn't met aussies there in years. Was a cool day even though we were disappointed with the woodies. I think the mistake i may have made on phoenix was waiting for the very back seat thinking it would be the right spot (was a very busy day) and after we thought it was so poor we didn't even bother waiting over an hour again to ride the front. The TPR video i recently saw was a front seat ride. (I can't stand Robb Alvey, to me he is the biggest douche of the entire enthusiast community but for some reason I un-muted the phoenix video instead of my usual muting him, and they kept on saying "airtime alley". I certainly got no airtime on phoenix in the back). If i go to Pennsylvania have a plan to do dorney/waldameer/knoebels/Hershey/Kennywood. It's actually not too bad if you hire a car then dump at say cleveland airport if you have CP as your last stop with it. (just as an example). Cars are dirt cheap as you know in USA and if you go to alamo sometimes even the one way fees are negligible. BTW back on topic, i think Europa Park if i ever manage to get there would be my favourite "kind" of park. Every time I watch videos I actually get excited as it looks so wonderful as does Phantasialand. For example Phantasialand has decent themeing, only a few coasters sure but everything seems to be pinnacle quality. 2 amazing water rides also. And their huss top spin even has wonderful theming. Europa park has a unique spinner layout, a great hyper and a mack launched looper and a killer bobsled and woodie to boot, all with great theming! That combo of theming AND thrills would be so wonderful. Disney Paris is the only disney park with proper thrills to cater to the European crowd but unfortunately it fails cause it's two major coasters are vekoma headbangers and the intamin looper was just an average, zyklon loop type coaster. Disney Paris is a massive fail IMO. I can't believe I missed Europa park when I was in the EU.. i really think it has the potential to be my favourite park in the world. So torn next year whether to do USA or EU, but that's a whole other topic!

Noxegon are you the fellow that made all those wonderful mac emulators? Firstly, thankyou, so much. Ok i will absolutely hunt the tape down over the WE and then try track down a cam to play it. I found out my friend uploads old school vhs tapes from an old player to youtube all the time, he has some sort of video capture system whatever that means (i'm an audio guy, no clue about vid), but since the output sockets on the vhs are the same there is no reason why he can't use the same system to record from the camera. So I will ask him when I have found a working cam to capture and convert it for me. Anyway will keep you posted as soon as I know anything. This is one of those sony 8mm tape so if anyone has a working cam I could borrow in melbourne, that would be awesome and really speed things up for me, so let me know.

Would anyone be interested in a POV of eureka? I haven't been able to find one anywhere on the web and I filmed two runs with it, gosh it must have been 15 years back with an old school camera, but i remember it coming out pretty darn good. The thing is I was terrible at tape organisation and furthermore that cam is shot, and I would have to learn how to convert such an old tape, but if you guys think it's a worthwhile thing to do I will find it and find a cam at least to be able to play it.. any tips on the best way to get old school analogue video into a computer and what format to convert etc would be really appreciated in that case. Anyway i thought it might be cool to do cause a POV of it simply doesn't seem to exist and IMO it really is in the top 5 wild mouse style coasters of all time, anywhere in the world. It was tragic to lose it. I really hope this rehab goes through and we get to ride it again some day in all it's glory. It's actually a shame that a park as major as dreamworld does not currently have one single good, let alone above average, full circuit coaster running. A real shame.

Hmm which is the super killer knoebels coaster? I honestly think I must be the only enthusiast in the world who is completely clueless to that one. The reason is because I *presume* you are talking about phoenix as it's so raved about everywhere in the coaster world bar me LOL. Honestly maybe it was just a *really* bad running day (may 2001), but both me and my friend found it bumpy and boring. When we rode it in 2001, (the now atrocious) ghost rider was in it's prime as was boulderdash (both were sublime), and I wouldn't have even rated phoenix to be anywhere in the same scale let alone planet as those two. Twister was just high speed but nothing special (not a fan of non airtime twister woodies, hence not a fan of 90% of gci's either). Sorry to go OT but I just have to know what I was missing. I am going back on my mega trip next year (if i decide USA.. still unsure whether USA or EU for this 3 month trip) and will give it another go then and hope to get some of the magic that i read so much about so often. Anyway, just curious what made it for you.

For me it's the "in the middle" parks regarding theming. My favourite park so far is Busch Williamsburg. What I mean is there is still enough theming IMO where it matters, but there are also some wonderful thrilling rides.. it's a balance... Great setting too, nice and lush but due to nature itself

this. TOT was better as it was, not that i remember it going that high up the tower ever when i rode it in forward, but at least it felt genuinely sort of scary with just a lap bar and looking at the sky. Now you barely go up and look at the ground and are secured with an OTSR.. way to ruin a decent ride.. don't know what they were thinking. SKC on the other hand has a great mountain setting and goes high, and thus works out to be fun in reverse, although I still found it scarier forward and feeling i could touch the superman and that i could fly out of the lap bar. If dreamworld knew of these restrictions why would they butcher the ride? So this is why I find it hard to believe that they are not simply doing it for cost cutting.

I wonder how much Verrukt cost? Can't seem to find that info. Surely being a fairly simple design itself, they could do something like that and break it's record for the 6m budget? Perhaps I am wrong, but i would have expected a long water coaster to cost more.

Hades pre 360 treatment or Hades 360? Not that I know if there was any extensive re tracking done along with adding the inversion. Were all the woodies at mount olympus rough? I really don't like "too rough" woodies, and the worst I ever went on was Hercules at Dorney park, like an idiot in the back seat. I had a 24 hr headache afterwards and put my back out for a week, was stuck in bed in the hotel. Horrible experience, so glad they replaced it with Hydra. Next year I am doing a mega 3 months usa 3 Europe dedicated theme park trip, will have a car in USA and drive all over like I did last big trip, and am planning to do the avalanche woodie in wisconsin after SFGA (gurnee), as it's only a 3 hr ish drive. Since it is more or less next door to mt olympus i wondered whether the woodies at Mt olympus were worth riding. I keep reading that they are all more or less very rough, so just curious as I presumed you would have ridden all of them whilst there? Cheers and thanks.

Hi Gogoboy, according to this http://rcdb.com/r.htm?ot=2&mo=8573 only GL has the 8 seat cars thus far. The one in happy valley has onboard sound though but is a 4 seater like all the others. The best El Loco is the adventuredome IMO, as it has no slowing of any kind, it is very short and misses the in line twist (it replaces it with another twist and dive but right into the station!), but it has the perfect intensity, unlike the "I brake for everything" GL. Back on topic to the accident, i'd ride GL in a heartbeat when fixed, this sort of thing is literally like one in a million. On the other hand, I am in the camp that I truly believe it was just dumb luck in this case that saved the situation from being the biggest disaster in Aussie theme park history.

I have a feeling this one will turn out to be a manufacturing defect also, i just doubt it was a maintenance one but time will tell.

falcon's fury for me. Pit fall at kennywood also, it's just the setting that really works for me. GD/Zumanjaro/LexLuthor all great also.