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2004 Royal Melbourne Show Review


HussRainbow
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miniheading.jpg Finally the 2004 Royal Melbourne Show has arrived, and it certainly is a vast improvement of the 2003 lineup. Arriving at the showgrounds this morning was very exciting, and I could see Taipan from the tram. The carnival is very nice and cramped, and it looks as if they have made good decisions as where to place the rides. Layout: Rough layout of where the rides are: http://img22.exs.cx/img22/189/Layout4.jpg ALI BABA: http://img24.exs.cx/img24/4065/AliBaba1.jpg http://img22.exs.cx/img22/7688/AliBaba2.jpg The Ali Baba is located infront of the Horseland shop, and was still packed up when I arrived this morning, after getting a few shots of the ride, the Backdrop was erected and the footing was also placed. The ride is looking a bit dirty, but Verfurth will probably give it a good hosing for Thursday. Also the new backdrop artwork featuring Aladdin is outstanding! CHAOS: http://img22.exs.cx/img22/1219/Chaos1.jpg The first time i've ever seen Chaos in this state. During this period the cars were beginning to be connected to the main hub. Looking pretty clean as usual, no differences to the ride CLAW: http://img22.exs.cx/img22/4658/Claw1.jpg Almost complete, all that had to be done was constructing the Backdrop and adding the control booth, which I didnt see around CLIFFHANGER: http://img22.exs.cx/img22/1142/Cliffhanger1.jpg In a nice spot in the carnival, the Cliffhanger was complete when I arrived, and is lookin nice and clean since it's major show debut in Sydney CRAZY MOUSE: http://img22.exs.cx/img22/8553/Crazy1.jpg http://img22.exs.cx/img22/2159/Crazy2.jpg http://img22.exs.cx/img22/8243/Crazy3.jpg http://img22.exs.cx/img22/814/Crazy4.jpg It was very exciting to see Crazy Mouse during the constructing period. The crew was working non stop the whole time assembling the top part of the track, and then added the sign. A strange thing that I noticed was the sign is now different. In Sydney I saw it as CRAZY MOUSE, but now TPA have CRAZY COASTER. Im not to sure why this happened. ROLLERGHOSTER: http://img22.exs.cx/img22/582/Ghoster1.jpg Facing towards the large milk carton again, the RollerGhoster was almost complete, and it was looking quite nice and clean. HANGOVER: http://img22.exs.cx/img22/877/Hang1.jpg Complete with its new paint job that debuted at EKKA, the Hangover is looking better than ever. Nice and clean, and I love the new tarps: FEAR IS ONLY SOMETHING THATS IN THE MIND HARD ROCK: http://img22.exs.cx/img22/646/Hard1.jpg http://img22.exs.cx/img22/484/Hard2.jpg http://img22.exs.cx/img22/3138/Hard3.jpg Probably NO.1 on my most anticipated ride list this year, the Hard Rock, manufactured by Technical Park is AWESOME. I got to see the ride in the first stages of construction, and it was great watching the crew assemble various parts of the ride. The paint job is awesome, but I don't think it has a backdrop. Anyways, can't wait to ride this one! KAMIKAZE: http://img22.exs.cx/img22/4764/Kamikaze1.jpg Looking nice as usual, the ride has seen to lose its lights on the upper arms, I wonder why Watkins have done this. Anyway the ride is looking nice and clean. It's also in a nice spot too MEGA DROP: http://img22.exs.cx/img22/7462/Mega1.jpg http://img22.exs.cx/img22/417/Mega2.jpg http://img22.exs.cx/img22/5817/Mega3.jpg After seeing the Mega Drop in Sydney, I already knew it was amazing, but today seeing the crew assemble the tower was very interesting. The middle and lower tower is joined, and the top of the tower is then joined, as seen in the photos. I was glad I got to see it in this view, a little dirty, but remember, it did operate in Shanghai for a while prior to coming to Australia MEGA MIX: http://img22.exs.cx/img22/373/MegaMix1.jpg This is Mega Mix's first time to the Royal Melbourne Show, and it looked just like it did in Sydney. Hopefully the technical difficulties have been sorted out, and it won't have any down time SUPA SIZZLER: http://img22.exs.cx/img22/553/Sizzler1.jpg Located where Wittingslow's Breakdance was last year, the Sizzler was looking nice, when I arrived I got to see the guys unfolding the arms. Looking nice and clean as usual TAIPAN: http://img22.exs.cx/img22/3160/Taipan1.jpg Located where Wittingslow's WILD MOUSE was last year, the ride was looking great, and the crew was just inspecting parts of the track. I wonder if the break system is working properly, because in Sydney they were having some trouble. None the less, awesome to see the ride here. First time too TECHNO JUMP: http://img22.exs.cx/img22/743/Techno1.jpg Didn't get to see much of the Techno Jump, as the crew was placing the footing, the land has been escavated so that the ride is steady. It's right next to Sizzler and Hard Rock. From what I saw the platforms were nice and clean. WAVE SWINGER |O'NEILL SHOWS|: http://img22.exs.cx/img22/5871/Wave1.jpg O'Neills are back with their Wave Swinger. It was interesting to see the ride without the panelling added for the control booth. Looking a little bit dirty, but otherwise, in good condition. Some of the seats were tangled, but thats no big deal. Also the ride isn't apart of the kiddy section this year. OTHER RIDES: Hurricane was lowered, couldn't get a shot because the area was blocked off Breakdance, was all packed up and the crew was beginning to add lights and unfold the backdrop, also couldn't get a photo because of the area also blocked Starship 2000, Scorpion and Circus Circus were also up, but the slide for Circus Circus was racked, it's massive! Anyway that is my 2004 Royal Melbourne Show preview for all you ride fanatics, my second part, show review with photos and video will be up sometime during the period of the show. Thanks, Chris :D
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Its 8:15, so what was everything like, is it worth forking out the $15 for the right to pay more money to go on rides? Did you ride on the rainbow? Was mega drop mega fun? Are they travelling the Hard Rock other than to captial cities?
1. The show opens thursday 2. Rainbow isn't there 3. Mega Drop wasnt complete 4. Hard Rock wasnt complete
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The hard rock's back drop has just been painted and is sitting in brisbane. Not sure if they're sending it down there for Melbourne or not. And for the crazy mouse there is a mad mouse at Adelaide show and because of the name being pretty much the same they changed it. And the kamikaze 's lights are rooted and they're to lazy to re wire them.

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Yeah thanks Sga. Next time you want to ruin a thread do it in the Chit-Chat section. Now for something relevant to the thread, does anyone here eat Pluto Pups? You know the hotdog on a stick that’s in batter then dipped in tomato sauce. "The Bus is now leaving for Dar Tomato Bay, Norfolk Island"

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But I stil wanna read your review. And no, I dont eat pluto pups, lets face it, most of the food vans at the show are pretty unsanitary and old, I'd rather not eat at a salmonella hole, and the vans really annoy me too, they continually play a stupid repetitive tape of someone talking about all the food you can get, but luckily the showgrounds in my town have some good fast food outlets across the road so at least I can get lunch without getting the runs. Plus, what meat is in the middle of the pluto pups anyway, if anyone can truly say for sure then maybe I might eat one. Also, can anyone tell me the prices for the ride?

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Why would they send it to Wangaratta ahead of Shepparton, we are bigger. Anyway, I went yesterday and had a bit of fun, but the prices marred it a bit. I firstly went on the crazy mouse/coaster , It was rater quite cool and its fun when you get to the second set of switchbacks where there is some good rotations, it could have been better if the rotations were there from the start, I was also suprised the ride had an on-ride photo. Next up I tried out hard rock and it was easily the best value ride of the lot and it had a short queue. You load into one of four sets of inward facing seats and sit down, unfortunatley the op pushed in my restraint so far i couldnt breathe all the way in. It was also rather funny seeing the op try to talk on the mike to us even though you couldn't hear him over the music. The floor system on the ride simply splits in two and the seats start rotating, then the fun starts with the swing, you get a good ever changing view, and its funny watching everyone else but the rotation was a bit nauseating, but bearable. I would rather the outward facing seats like on the Claw becasue you get a better view and it spins slower. It gave great airtime at the top and some strong Gs at the bottom, you got that wierd face putty feeling. Overall a great ride. Next up was mega drop, terrible value ($8) but I still did it, I got a nice view of the city at the top and you dont know when it is going to drop, suddenly you hear a hydraulic hiss and you are on your way down and braking before you know it. The freefall seemed to take longer then how it looks when you watch it. I then went on a simulator that had an underwater coaster movie, but I got a bit of a laugh when I saw that the film was the Crystal Beach Cyclone track from NL with some visual effects added. I had by then run out of time and had to catch a train into the city to see Geelong play Brisbane at the MCG.

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1. Great to hear you had a good time at the show, and yeah I know what you mean by the prices. Ill be going on Monday night, and lucky ill have enough to ride what I want. In Sydney it was much better, and Mega Drop was only like $7. Anyways, I can't wait to ride Hard Rock, and I also hear that the HANGOVER was down yesterday, but everything should be fine today. 2. Go Lions, they put in a fantastic effort, taking it to number 4 baby! :D

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