The Off Topic Topic

[Jobe]

4 hours ago, pushbutton said:

So, depending on your point of view on what constitutes a Mad Mouse, there have been potentially 6 Mad Mouse style rides in Australia at one time or another :

1. Adelaide showgrounds

2. Melbourne showgrounds 

3. Luna park Sydney 

4. Aussie World

5. Eureka Mountain Mine Ride at Dreamworld 

6. Scooby-Doo Spooky Coaster at Movie World 

I wouldn't mind betting there's no other countryin the world that's had that many! 

Having just seen photos of numerous Mad Mouse rides in Britain, I take back my earlier bet on Australia having the most.

The UK had loads of them!

At one time there were over 55 wooden Wild Mice worldwide produced. Now we are down to just 3 left.........

 

The Wild Mouse at LPS will probably be the last one standing. It is the only one that is protected by a binding heritage order and LPS have reaffirmed their ongoing commitment to keeping this ride functioning. LPS has confirmed that there has been quite a bit of work on the ride over 2017 and it is in very nice condition currently. It is a icon of the Park and will not be going anywhere in a hurry. They will also be carrying out further improvements to the building facade over 2018.

I am a little surprised that LPM didnt grab one of the Wild Mouse in Australia when they had the chance. It would have been the perfect ride to place in the still vacant ex- Metropolis site and would have enabled another Wild Mouse to stay in the country. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

In further titbits of news for LPS, the new Flying Carousel ride has been pushed back to a July 1st opening due to logistical challenges. The  Lighthouse  cafe food outlet has been upgraded and work has commenced on the brand new Light House structure , with a completion date set for mid- March.

There are other structural and building enhancements happening over 2018 with a number of new rides and attractions due to be installed throughout 2019.

All in all LPS future is looking bright. I will be visiting the park on Saturday and will provide a trip report on any improvements and on how the park is faring.

 

16 hours ago, pushbutton said:

There were actually 4 in Australia. 

Adelaide showgrounds

Melbourne showgrounds 

Luna park Sydney 

Aussie World 

Your completely right Push but I am pretty sure there were never more than 3 operating at any one time.

[XxMrYoshixX]

On 1/8/2018 at 8:43 AM, Jobe said:

Brad Loxley, the Operations Manager at LPS, has categorically stated that the Wild Mouse and other heritage attractions such as Coney Island and Rotor are not going anywhere. Wild Mouse is a fairly simple ride and should be easy to maintain to a good riding standard and should be around for many years to come.

LPS have ruled out newer compact coasters with their revitalisation at this stage due to lack of room around their current and proposed attractions. The new 64 seat Wave Swinger will be installed by the end of March and their new theming around the park has begun, with the first example at the Light house cafe. What is exciting is that each new ride will receive new thematic bridges to really give back its old time charm and feel. There will be a new take on the Tumble Bug sculpture that will be incorporated into a new ride.

The revitalisation of the park has a tabulated time line of 5 years so should be completed by 2021 at the latest.

The LPS thread hasn't been updated for a while, so I'll need to play catch up with the news on the park, but when did a second coaster at LPS get officially ruled out by management? I thought for all that time when they renovated the Big Dipper facade it was a telltale sign that they would be building a third Big Dipper. . .

Quite strange really. Luna Park is ripe for a major thrill ride, it has been for a long time, perhaps they may be getting something good down the road - which will more than make up for the lack of a coaster in this expansion plan. Obviously the lack of room is a major issue here - but in a few years, it won't be an issue for LPS when the Big Top becomes obsolete and stops printing money for them. 

[RobC]

Was the coaster at SeaWorld back in the 90s something like a wild mouse? Went on it when I was really young and have slight memories of what it looked like, think it was called Thrillseeker.

[XxMrYoshixX]

23 minutes ago, RobC said:

Was the coaster at SeaWorld back in the 90s something like a wild mouse? Went on it when I was really young and have slight memories of what it looked like, think it was called Thrillseeker.

That coaster was a Galaxi coaster, which was a fairly common model built by SDC around the late 60's-70's. It is different to a wild mouse in that it has banked turns.

[RobC]

59 minutes ago, XxMrYoshixX said:

That coaster was a Galaxi coaster, which was a fairly common model built by SDC around the late 60's-70's. It is different to a wild mouse in that it has banked turns.

Ah awesome thanks for the reply, I remember going on it as a kid and loving it. Was sad when it was gone when I went back quite some time later.

Did find this video while searching for it though, quite sad seeing all the old rides gone. Having said that I never knew the Bermuda triangle used to have a mining theme.

 

Edited January 11, 2018 by RobC

[strop]

That was the first iteration of the ride and was called Lassiter’s Lost Mine. It was pretty good for its time and full of animatronics, I don’t remember much more about it or whether the track, building or anything else was changed when they converted it to Bermuda. 

[Santa07]

Looks like TPR have created their own version of Mitch Hawker's Coaster poll: https://coasterpoll.com/. Still in beta testing so there are quite a few bugs and missing coasters (especially Australian ones). Still looks like something worth checking out since I reckon this could easily become one of the more popular coaster polls around.

[New display name]

I must be going back to Disney soon because I've started watching live web cams again.

 

 

Edited January 17, 2018 by Skeeta

[Ryno]

On 11/01/2018 at 11:57 AM, RobC said:

Ah awesome thanks for the reply, I remember going on it as a kid and loving it. Was sad when it was gone when I went back quite some time later.

Did find this video while searching for it though, quite sad seeing all the old rides gone. Having said that I never knew the Bermuda triangle used to have a mining theme.

 

Thrillseeker is still operating under a different name (Taipan) now in a travelling amusement park somewhere in australia I think. 

[Spotty]

Taipan is owned by Shorts / Lauries amusements and currently travels around at the major shows. Next appearance will likely be the Royal Easter show.

[Guest 239]

Since we're on the topic of Sea World, I actually got engaged there on Saturday! I did it as part of the snorkeling experience and had a bunch of the staff helping me out. They were super helpful and organised most of the logistics for me (getting a sign in the water, having the ring delivered in the pool, etc).

Here's a sneaky picture of when everything was going down and she caught on to what was happening. I'm happy to chuck the full story and my planning up on here if anyone is interested.

[New display name]

@CaptainLazerGuns I'm glad my partner doesn't read this site.  You make me look bad.

[Slick]

6 hours ago, CaptainLazerGuns said:

Since we're on the topic of Sea World, I actually got engaged there on Saturday! I did it as part of the snorkeling experience and had a bunch of the staff helping me out. They were super helpful and organised most of the logistics for me (getting a sign in the water, having the ring delivered in the pool, etc).

Here's a sneaky picture of when everything was going down and she caught on to what was happening. I'm happy to chuck the full story and my planning up on here if anyone is interested.

That's awesome man! Congrats. Good on you.

[jjuttp]

I've had a similar idea but it involved a rather large fibreglass Clam (maybe 50-100cm wide) with the sign built in and instead of Seaworld, it's the GBR so it fits in.

[XxMrYoshixX]

Hey guys, I've arrived at the Gold Coast today for a week's stay. I'll be at Dreamworld and Movie World on Monday and Wednesday next week. It is the first time I've been to either of these parks for around 3-4 years. To show how long I've not been at these parks, I haven't even ridden Doomsday Destroyer or seen the new Motorsports area with my own eyes. I've not done DC Rivals yet. Hopefully the ride lives up to the hype and the presumably long wait is worth it.

If any of you want me to check up on anything, just let me know. I'll be checking up on the play school ferris wheel and any progress on Rocky Hollow that I see throughout the day. Maybe I'll put some of my photos up on here too.

[Brad2912]

Doomsday is a fun little flat. 

Motorsports area, well I guess it’s ok if you’re into that kinda thing.

Rivals queue shouldn’t be long at all. Especially on Wednesday once all the kids are back at school. 

Enjoy your trip!

[red dragin]

Rivals - it's not hype. It is that good. 

It's about the best fun I've had with pants on. 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

On 19/01/2018 at 8:57 AM, Skeeta said:

@CaptainLazerGuns I'm glad my partner doesn't read this site.  You make me look bad.

lol. It's definitely a largely unique way to do it!

I proposed on Cyclone and we celebrated after our wedding on Viper... then went to Disneyland. You should get your partner to read more.

[Gary86]

Just got this email from Dreamworld. Can you see what's wrong here? (Besides telling me that my pass needs renewing when it expires 24th December 2018.)

[Brad2912]

My guess is you are referring if the pictured but no longer existing surfboards on Wipeout?

FWIW, I got the same email & my passes don’t expire until June 

[themagician]

I’d say it isn’t just the surfboards, but the rides whole theming and paint colour 

[MickeyD]

I received this one today.. Can anyone tell me what's wrong?

[WalleyWorld]

@MickeyD "There is a lot happening this year and we want you to have a ball with all the exiting new rides........"

They spelt exciting wrong. And I guess they are correct when they say 'rides', as the playschool wheel opened in January. And we also have the flying theatre coming later this year.

Edited January 24, 2018 by Luke

[Guest 239]

On 1/20/2018 at 10:55 PM, XxMrYoshixX said:

I've not done DC Rivals yet. Hopefully the ride lives up to the hype and the presumably long wait is worth it.

I went on a Friday smack bang during school holiday season. We immediately joined the Rivals line after getting into the park and I'd say we waited about 10-15 minutes once we got into the line itself. Once the day picked up the line got smashed up to about 60 minute waits (the sign for which is annoyingly placed inside the queue) and then slowly declined over the day.

If you can, go single rider. My fiancee loved going on Rivals, but only once. After that I was on my own and utilized single rider as much as I could.

On this note, I also imagine that the best time to do Rivals would be holidays as they are running it with two trains and an optimal number of ride ops. I can imagine it being like Superman during the off-peak where it takes 3 ride ops to do the job of about 6 and they only cycle one train making it a 45 minute wait for a queue of 100 people.

[Whombex]

When I went on Tuesday this week, the single rider line took longer than the general line, despite only having 10 people lined up. If the numbers only work out to one or two single riders per cycle, and there's a dozen or more in the single rider line, I'd suggest swapping to the general line if it's no further back than 80-100 people (Green Lantern / Atrocitus ?).