Gazza

IDK there might have been a breakdown on the day you visited so they had a backlog. Did you get plenty of rides prior to 5pm?

Because it takes longer and the staff would want to just clear the tailwhip queue and go home, not muck around dealing with a whole trains worth each time.

I think over time if it became known you could get a quasi ERT at the end of the day there would be enough people wanting rides at 5pm you'd have to let new people on. Hence them just cycling quickly to pump them through so the staff can go home.

I think the reason they wouldn't allow others to join would be to just speed up the throughput for those waiting for their tailwhip ride? Checking an empty train is quicker than letting people on / waiting for them to deposit loose items and sit down / waiting for them to exit.

Yeah. I think people voting perhaps didn't realise how few "action" attractions Jamberoo has. Maybe when it had Grass Skiing, Go Karts, Wet Races it could have been, but clearly now 90% of the offering is water park attractions. I dunno why you would give Adventure World a separate category. Plenty of parks have slides and dry rides but you don't call them Action Parks.

Action park is marketing speak though. It's overwhelmingly now a water park, with a couple of toboggans. Wet n Wild is a water park despite having a skycoaster, halfpipe coaster (And even ziplines and wild buggy at one point) I'd lol if people started calling it Wet n Wild Action Park.

Yeah WTF, what developments in Australia have been opposed on the basis of Covid 19? Maybe if it was koalas, traffic or height (or perhaps a lake with black swans) you'd get the local nimbys. It's Just the developer trying to save face.

Because its privately owned.

Would moving it attract new visitors to the VRTP chain or sell more One Passes?

Is it really worth going for the international crowds though? Are you talking about the international GP, or international thoosies? I mean FLY fits all of the above (highly themed, worlds first, amazing looking) and I doubt Phantasialand gets much traction outside of Germany and the neighbouring parts of the Netherlands. And I'm literally the target market for that ride, and I want to ride it, but I wont get there immediately. Re steel taipan, I dont think members of the public really get into the nuances of swing launches, or even have an opinion on them since they are uncommon still. To be honest, theres no rhyme or reason to it. Eg in content farm videos that end up your feed you get POVs of random B&Ms with a caption "Would you ride this" but I doubt it translates to people booking tickets to these parks, or even being able to find it on a map.

The only reasons (IMO) to be a strictly family park is if you're so small its too expensive to try and cater to thrill riders (But you can afford to do kiddie rides, play areas etc) The other reason is if the park had an IP that doesn't lend itself to thrill rides (Eg Peppa Pig World Florida) Personally I think having all parks offer a mix of attractions keeps it interesting for a wider variety of visitors. SW is in the heart of a major tourist destination, so could easily be a broad audience drawcard, it shouldn't be a place you go check out only once because it happens to be on your 3 park pass.

Millennium force has an inspection car that runs up beside the lift: https://www.parkz.com.au/photo/9128-Millennium_Force/gallery/sort/newest/location/millennium-force/offset/29 As others have said youd still need to get onto the track itself to check equipment mounted on the track. I think it's just Intamin being Intamin. The other Giga Intimidator 305 has a staircase https://www.parkz.com.au/photo/9889-Intimidator_305/gallery/sort/newest/location/intimidator-305/offset/11

The Sea World eye was “transportable”, but it’s not the same as a typical carnival ride that is painted with cheesy airbrush graphics and looks temporary and only stays for a couple of weeks. Those Ronald Bussink wheels seem a bit more involved for set up, and stay at their location for long periods (The Wheel of Brisbane is a good example) and the install doesn’t look as “cheap”. I think the main giveaway with the sea world eye was the metal flooring and the ugly modular fencing. But it still looks a lot more tasteful than a regular carnival ferris wheel I think SW eye got a pass because it was a big ride too, in an iconic location.

Perhaps one solution is to have more attractions, particularly smaller rides with shorter maintenance periods so even with a couple of major rides closed the park is still a full day.

If I had to guess, Fonix at Farup and the long awaited opening of Monster at Grona Lund prompted people to go to Scandinavia and do everything else. I can't really think of any other big thrill coasters in Europe this year. Certainly, I had been holding out for Monster given that project has been known about for several years, but in the end it's swings and roundabouts because I missed Balder due to its track replacement.

Is that assuming a shutdown takes a full month per ride?

So, as I interpret it, a clone in the theme park world is something with a identical or near identical design. Eg Vekoma SLCs, or the Transformers rides at the Universal parks. But I mean aside from sally designing both they're clearly not clones @Dean Barnett You wouldn't say Superman at SFMM and Superman at MW are clones, would you? (Despite both being Intamin launch coasters) So why here? In terms of differences: Our JL has 4 person standard cars, shorter layout, and a storyline based around Starro invading, The Six Flags JL has 6 person cars with a full motion base, a longer layout and a storyline about Lex Luthor and Joker kidnapping the Justice League. I think the only similarities' is the preshow room is obviously the hall of justice, and the load station has a similar look with Cyborg, but beyond that every scene and set is different. FWIW there's another JL dark ride at Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi and its even more sophisticated than the Six Flags one and also not a clone.

Bonus video: The launch at the start of DrageKongen PXL_20220713_080946827.TS.mp4

Do you have a pic of the permanent queues?

The six flags versions aren't clones of the MW version....

Yes when I went past last week (at night) those parts were white (with primer I guess is what I saw), they’ve since completed those parts in yellow when I passed this morning.

Djurs Sommerland Wednesday 13th July https://www.parkz.com.au/attraction/djurs-sommerland Next park and perhaps one of my most anticipated was Djurs Sommerland, which is located about 45 minutes from Aarahus, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. For a laugh on the drive to the park I stopped off at the Graceland replica called "Memphis Mansion" someone built in the town of Randers. The park I felt was similar to Europa Park with its very wide variety of activities, but seeming avoidance of having any rides with inversions (Which Europa Park only addressed with the addition of Blue Fire) It’s definitely a solid traditional theme park, with distinctive themed lands (Albeit pretty conventional and sometimes stereotypical: Wild West, Pirates, Farmyard, Dinosaurs, Vikings etc), nice theming and immaculate upkeep. There are also a ridiculous number of playgrounds, and i know if i was a kid that would be the best thing ever because a couple of them were huge and had large spiralling slides, so nice to know the kids have plenty to do that doesn’t involve queuing. And of course Homer Simpson trampoline world USA: The park was busy but the lines moved well, with waits never above 30 minutes. Like Farup, the staff were friendly, efficient and not stressed and quite good with kids (Eg particularly at Piraten where they were using foam swords to get people to do up their seatbelts) So i got plenty of rides on everything I wanted to. Drage Kongen x3 Started off with this and it was a pleasant surprise. Heard it shakes a bit, but in reality less so than say Big Dipper or DC Rivals. It looks gorgeous built into the landscape, with great near misses with the landscaping. It also has quite an ‘unpredictable’ layout. You cant really see it in one go like you can for Orkanen, and it alternates between high up parts and down low turns, randomly goes behind the main building, has random sharp turns, its excellent. I heard the ride had a ‘fast start’ and I thought it was just some quick friction wheels out of the station, but spoiler, it launches like motocoaster into an actual indoor section with a drop and helix in the dark, which totally surprised me. Jungle Rally Small model Zierer kiddy coaster with a basic oval layout, but again good effort into the theming. T-Rex Family Coaster This ride was built during covid and just sat there until this year. The whole Dinosaurland sorta works, it’s like a rusty weathered version of Jurassic park with “Dino Inc” plastered everywhere like you’d see “Ingen” everywhere in a Jurassic Park themed zone. A lot of the signage had an “Engrish” vibe to it, which is unusual since Danes are usually spot on with English. But IDK it felt weird, like you had fossil digs and skeletons right next to live dino animatronics. Is it like a purgatory where Dinos and Humans live together. The ride decent if not ground shattering, with a lively pace through some helixes. It had onboard audio but it was kind of just there, with some music and researchers yabbering on the radio, it wasn’t full on synced to the ride. Dino Xpedition This had no queue at this point and was right next door so I did it thinking it would just get some better pics of T-Rex Family Coaster, (which is somewhat set back) actually turned out to be quite a lengthy car ride with some fun special effects, and even a random dark ride section with King Kong (Maybe they got a discount package of animatronics 2nd hand and built the zone based around that?) The queue was nicely themed, again a bit stereotypically as a dino research lab. Thors Hammer x2 One of those Gerstlauer Bobsleds, and a clone of the original at Tripsdrill. Short description its like a wild mouse with some banked turns and helices. They are fine as a middle of the road attraction, but I've concluded on the whole they are really not that much more thrilling than a roller skater. What I did love is the theming, the station had a full on Viking feast scene, a yak being milked, runestones. Great stuff. Juvelen x3 Awesome ride. You take the pacing of Jet Rescue and increase the speed and length of the ride and you get this. It just powers through the course and feels relentless, with the 2nd launch maintaining the pace. There are some great details too, like the odd crashed ATV along the track, and some near misses with tree stumps on the inside of the banked turns, so it feels like you are going to bump your head. The queue line theming is nice too, obviously inspired by Indiana jones, with lots of nice stonework and tree roots running through the ceiling. Piraten x5 The ride everyone talks about. Piraten is a mini version of a hypercoaster from Intamin. If you replaced the launch and top hat of Superman with a lift hill, and then tacked on the last bit of DC Rivals, this is what you get in terms of pacing and level of airtime. I’ve ridden Kawasemi back in 2019 so my thoughts are still the same (Though I got better rides on this in the summer heat verus the Japanese winter) Its a great ride loaded with airtime, but it’s definitely a product of its time. Back in the day Thoosies would consistently rate the intamin “Airtime Machines” at the top of the rankings (EGF, Toro, SROS etc). But then the likes of RMC came along and re-wrote the book in terms of what a wild intense ride could be, so Piraten is still good, but no longer best of the best. The highlight of the ride was those two twisted airtime hills after the 2nd turnaround where it becomes a bit unhinged. Skatteoen Skat Owen? No, it's a Storm Coaster clone (Or rather, Storm cloned this) so you all know what to expect. This one has lovely theming, with rockwork and pirate forts, and a boardwalk that edges around the base of the ride and over some bridges to the station. The pre lift flume section had a kraken animatronic with several moving limbs. Not really much of a narrative, just pirate related stuff that looks nice. Of course, one of the best features is that bystanders get full view of the splashdown, so non-riders get more of an appreciation of the water coaster gimmick. Sablen Had to do this because its a new ride type to me. Its a larger version of a frog hopper but the whole tower tilts. Frustratingly i got the middle seat so really the least possible amount of movement, so perhaps that means im rating it lower than it should, but the sensation is more like “oh, its tilting”, and not “woah this is unstable, better hang on”. It doesn’t generate enough of a lurching sensation IMO At that point i stopped for lunch at the Pirate food market. The park is well priced, I had a nice chicken salad, drink, and a side serve of onion rings and jalapeno poppers and i think it came to $17 and all came served on crockery. Vilde Honsejagt Unbelievable the number of Zierer family coasters the rest of the world has but none in Aus. This was a medium sized one, with a cute chicken theme, and a train themed like egg crates, with a fox hunting a chicken at the front. Milk Shakeren Following the theme of doing rides that were new to me. This Zamperla Barnyard ride lifts up and tilts. When I got on i realised its really just a variant on a wave swinger or all those other rides that tilt and spin. The outward facing seating position makes it a little more stomach churning. Visually it looks great. Tigeren Totally did not expect to like this as much as I did. This is a larger version of a Gyro swing, with lap bars like Goliath at AW. The last time I did a Gyro Swing i felt a bit off colour afterwards, but this was something else. I think the sheer size means the swings are more sustained, and the airtime more drawn out, so you do get a superb sensation of flight and freedom at the top of the swings. I just felt like the overall pacing and mechanics of the ride made this better than any other equivalent i;ve done. It also had a well themed queue, perhaps the most elaborate ive seen on a flat ride. And my first encounter with those infamous counters, but I think it was more for the benefit of the operator since they were still manning the turnstile, you weren’t just being let in unsupervised. Rio Grande Rafting Rapids ride, but wasn’t really much to write home about but the bit with the wave generator and geysers did look pretty nice. Skydebane Discovered this by accident. There is a free shooting range. You get given a ashtray with about 10 little slugs in it and a piece of paper with a target. Find a spare bay, wind the target out and start shooting. This is the first time ive ever shot anything with live ammunition and predictably i was terrible at it. Solguden This is a dumbo type ride, but it had fountains around the outside you had to dodge by lifting your car up and down. It was hot so i was just plowing through them regardless. Visually i love the way the arms look like stacked stones. Speedy Gonzales This is one of those ‘dry’ multi lane slides. I just went up there towards the end of the day hoping to get some pics of Piraten (since the slide is on a bit of a hill). Anyway turns out to be totally unsupervised so you just grab a raft and send yourself down by pushing a button. +1 on the ride count. Andedammen Have i been on a Metalbau duckmill? Nope. Ok lets ride. As gentle as you’d expect, but everyone should ride the silly rides occassionally right. Long Cun Expedition I closed out on this about 5 mins before closing time. I had been skipping it all day because it looked like a clone of the flume I’d done the day before. But the station looked gorgeous, actually resembling a stilt house you’d see on a rice paddy in SE Asia. Had some suprising squirting elephant, but a flumes a flume. And thats it, managing 24 rides in 11 hours was a productive day, and you can see from the Parkz database the park has around 50 attractions, so you could easily bum around doing more flats. You’re never going to get bored here. In terms of how to improve the place. Well the most popular rides were the big thrill coasters (Well, the coasters in general actually!) which sort of explains why management keeps building one every couple of years. So maybe now is the time for them to branch out and build a looping coaster? Perhaps a dark ride? They attempted it briefly on the Dino Xpedition car ride. Oh, but one thing. They have a ride called Buffalo Bumper Cars, but it would have been such a great Danish/English pun to call them "Buffalo Bils" But really, its a popular park that guests are quite satisfied with, so there’s not really much room for improvement As always, you can see more photos here, and if you have other questions about the park, just ask. https://www.parkz.com.au/search/photos/location/djurs-sommerland

No pic but when I went past it was red and white, not red and yellow.

The statue makes it look like he's trying to avoid being poked in the butt.

Crash Bandicoot Spinning Coaster. You know it makes sense.