Gold Coaster

... someone obscure or one we'd know? ... On that point, I caught a Jess Mauboy nightclub gig while at a nightclub here in Darwin a few weeks ago and it was VERY annoying the amount of mobile phones/digital cameras blocking the view as people took wayyy too many photos. And given we were standing right next to the stage and she's all about getting right up to people, I'm sure many upskirt photos were attempted by some of the less savory characters I saw. Eww, creepy. But yeah, the amount of photos were ridiculous and it got really annoying. I'm sure it must have been to Jess too. Gig was otherwise decent though, she has come a long way from that shy 16 year old who auditioned in the desert for the Idol judges. I'll be moving back to the Gold Coast tomorrow and hitting the parks on the weekend after theme park withdrawal these past couple of months. Won't be developing any sudden allergies/dietery requirements though. I won't be buying much in the way of food/drink but then I never have anyway... I'll just take in a big bottle of water and use that to coast through the day. Will be too busy getting a G-Force fix!

I guess I'm just a bit burnt out on the parks here to the point where I'd take -almost- any half-decent US park over ours... If we had a couple more coasters/decent attractions in each of DW and MW I'd be happier...

Pretty decent judging from the POV on their site too... I would love to see something like this go into Wet'n'Wild. Taken from PALGN: Sounds perfect for us theme park nuts! Also: Toy Story Mania, inspired by the Disney attractions and having been made for Wii has hit the Australian iTunes store for iPod Touch/iPhone: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore...840740&mt=8

There's a lot of innovation for the iDevices though. The Flight Control genre for one. Shame there are shoddy ripoffs but I recommend the original and Harbor Master. Oh and try Wolfenstein RPG, it has a cool aesthetic, RPG stylings (no really! Who'da thought from the title? ), and is real-time until combat. And 'The Quest' is fantastic. Agree rehashes are a bit overdone on the platform but when you have the ability to take some decent adaptions with you in your pocket, I'm glad of that. Car Jack Streets is quite the good clone of the 2D GTA games and Gangstar looks to be a brilliant mini *3D* GTA clone.

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore...995561&mt=8 ($3.99) Seems quite good so far. It's the full game with all episodes included. Controls are a bit hard to get used to at first but the production values are solid and sprites have been retouched... those of you who played the original need to grab this and for those who like the FPS genre, this is the chance to play a true classic (and have it for gaming on the go). Can't recommend this enough to anyone.

What camera settings did you use? NICE!

But a queue leeching out onto Main Street is going to cause problems for people trying to enjoy Main Street... and the roof already gives a bit of a claustrophobic effect IMHO...

- Nice! Where does the photo get taken from? - Well, fair enough if the attendance is down and they can pump crowds through the other ones. This could be a good thing for people who get there early and haven't had breakfast/get a bit peckish. I've been there on occasion and thought it'd be nice to have someone standing there with a few food options/coffee. - What effect does this seem to have? Does it cause congestion on Main Street with queues spilling out onto it?

Mmm, I'm not optimistic about it being anything better, going off recent developments. If I was on the panel, I would actually look at a splash battle which could be easily themed to pirates in association with the new stunt show while that's there. Afterwards, it would still fit in well. I doubt that would come under 'Fun & Games Building', of course, just putting forward my idea of what I'd do that would be famliy friendly and could be done on a moderate budget.

^^my August 2007 visit: SFMM was awesome with the original version of X and no Terminator Salvation. 'X' was a true WTF experience and it was fun... but Tatsu for the sheer pure experience factor reigned supreme - and you can see where you're going unlike some where it's more looking down at the blurred (close) ground / supports, if you know what I mean. The woodies are also great (Colossus was my first EVER). Fortunately we too had surprisingly short rides (and a few Flash Passes too but we didn't even really need them that badly). I also did Knott's and thought it was OKAY (and Silver Bullet was pretty fun). I was there before Pony Express but Ghost Rider was pretty insane - it was one of the first times in my life I thought I was going to die. That said Sierra Sidewinder was my first spinning coaster ever and was also good fun. Didn't get to do Xcelerator as it wasn't running when I went to queue for it and didn't open until it was 3 minutes to closing and my friend Evan & I were too far away to make the queue Overall though, while I'd take Knott's over DW any day, SFMM still beat it into the ground and if I could only pick one of the two would easily be my preference.

And isn't that crappy aquarium 'attraction' next to the Dugong one? More space, I say that could easily go too. But gutting Bermuda Triangle? Wow, with that and Pirate Ship gone, that's 2 less rides everyone can enjoy... and the park doesn't have that many to begin with for those who aren't little kids. While it's not a rides park, you shouldn't do this type of thing.

Or possibly they're constructing a B&M to wrap around both parks

A heap of fun if you mean the flyers that you snap... well, you're not MEANT to, I think, but people do anyway. About the best I've done in the US, you were able to fly out at ridiculous angles and fast too.

As I said, Voyage still ranks very highly on my list. Agree 100% on what you said. I would actually rather go to Holiday World just for that coaster alone but factor in everything else and it's something that I wish we had here (though obviously those areas named after an American holiday would have to become, ooh, Ghoulish Gulch, Adventure Island, etc, something more generic but interestingly titled). It's a shame you had a brief visit and I'm sure you'd be planning a return there in future. The rapids ride is also quite fun and makes you wonder why we don't have water cannons for spectators here at DW. Hopefully the eventual Whitewater World expansion will include this. Definitely admire Pat and the park's provision of free softdrink - don't forget sunscreen and childcare as well (in the Christmas area)... very impressive. I think parking is included too. Park food is also wonderful. HW really does get everything really right and I look forward to going back sometime soon.

^ What he said... Okay, so Motocoaster doesn't maintain its speed and is uncomfortable for some but at the end of the day, it's better than having an outdoor Wild Mouse clone that too many parks across the US have. And, you know, for the first half of the ride it IS genuinely fun. And theming wise it definitely stacks up with Jet Rescue well (ignoring the lack of landscaping). And at the end of the day we need coasters ADDED to the lineup not substituted.

How's The Voyage these days? That still ranks highly even after doing the East Coast parks. And what did you think of the rest of HW? Pilgrim's Plunge is something I want to go back there to do, looks great - what are your impressions?

...aside from the Spooty Spin...

That's what I'd imagine to happen but then, the ride op puts you in "suspended animation" during the ride... so I'm wondering if that was the position when the blackout happened... *shrug* I admit to not knowing that much about carnie ride mechanics.

Retheming of the Corkscrew.

What kind of height and position was the Ranger in? Were people upside-down?

Semantics. You don't have to whack people over the head with exposition. Whether or not he rocks back and forth, a wild laugh and general indications of evilness will do. So maybe he's just an evil goldminer. Maybe he could be a spirit of an old miner who perished in a collapse. You could write a bit of story into the preshow/beginning into it so it was a woodie answer to what SE/Scooby Doo does in providing some context to the ride experience.

NOTED!

... No, you just have that as the storyline. That's what I was saying. You could certainly have a goldminer audio-animatronic cackling then he sends you on your way... no one was suggesting padded cells and straitjackets...

That actually WAS a serious suggestion. It could work. I think I meant to put in a "" instead of a "". And excuse me for using a bit of humour sometimes...

Definitely possible and past 'chorree' has a tendency to get recycled/reworked with companies. That said, the picture is ok. Reminds me a bit of a show I saw at Indiana Beach a couple of years ago.