Brisbane Ekka

[scott 0]

Yeah,I know this is a bit late,but I only just went yesterday.The Ekka has four new rides this year,including the Mega Drop,(a thirty-seven metre giant drop)which was at the Sydney Royal Show,the Hard Rock(I'm not sure what that does)the Cliff Hanger,in which riders lie down on fake hangliders,and are rotated through the air,obviously giving the impression that riders are hangliding,there was the Techno Jump(not sure) There wereall the old events,such as would chopping,which I witnesed for the first time,the pigs,cows,sheep,ect,the Fireworks,(the River Festival has better ones)the horses and the showbags. I was eager to do the Mega Drop,as I knew I wouldn't wuss out and not go on it like GD.Never the less,I still had a tight stomach as the freefall car climbed the tower.You don't realise how high 37 metres is until you reach the top of that 37 meters.They kept us waiting there as long as possible,obviously,giving us time to admire the small view of the CBD.But that doesn't make the fall much of a surprise,as you can hear them counting down below.This was my first freefall sensation(Apart from T.O.T,but it's a different senation.My mouth was dry as we plummeted;freefalling is a great experience.I'd mainly done this to prepare me for Giant Drop at Dreamworld,which I'm going to in mid September(opening of Claw and Re-opening of Waterpark)But then again,GD is nearly four times that height, so I might chicken out again.This ride is best in the daytime,because you get the sensation that dropping more than you actually are,but the view is good at night time. I also went on hangover,an old favourite.I finished off with the Claw(those reatraints really hurt)which totalled in Mega drop 2 times the claw once and hangover once,which also meant $27 down the drain.But I'll always have the memory's

[HussRainbow 0]

Hard Rock wasnt actually at the show, it got held up at customs in Sydney for normal checks, should be fine now, and will debut at the Adelaide show on the 3rd. Also on the Mega Drop, you dropped 35 meters, not 37

[scott 0]

My mistake.

[Nebuchanezzar 0]

Good to see you had fun, did you ride the Claw?

[scott 0]

Yeah,I did,the ride is incredibly short for five dollars fifty.

[Slick 2,187]

Plus when we went there on Wednesday it broke down twice. Nice work Tivoli.

[Nebuchanezzar 0]

Bah Flimsham, must have been crowded then, I got a massively long ride when I went to a practically empty day 2 years ago at Sydney.

[Gazza 1,864]

On the topic of carnival rides, There was a mention of the mega drop in the eye in the herald sun (a sort of gossip page). It basically said they had a sneak peek at a new ride coming to the Melbourne show, A ride which uses four cylinders to fire you at the ground at 200kph pulling five Gs. I think the 200kph stat sounds a bit dodgy. Not exactly breaking news is it, just goes to show how much the papers have their finger on the pulse when it comes to rides .

[Slick 2,187]

Well the mega drop is supposed to be as fast as 204k/ph but from someone who has done twenty-eight Giant Drops in one Saturday i'd be surprised if it pulled out 70k/ph. And if anyone looked closely at the tower you'll notice that it's made up into two parts and that the higher part was certainly not as straight as the GD is.

[HussRainbow 0]

Those stats seem incredibley wrong....... But anyways, the Claw is not made by Tivoli, it's made by KMG. Just looked at the article now, aptly titled "Ahhhh Splat" hehe

[Nebuchanezzar 0]

My goodness!!! Who dares say that Tivoli makes the Moveit series!!! they should be ashamed of themselves! Apologise to KMG, and all their worthfullness.

[Slick 2,187]

That's odd, The Claw had a quite noticeable Tivoli plaque on the hydraulics. Meh, The only ride that I like after breaking down twice in one day would be TOT, unfortunately The Claw just didn't "thrill" me or anything.

[Nebuchanezzar 0]

But surely you cannot compare the Claw to the Tower of Terror, thats grossly unfair! The Tower is so much more of a ride than the poor little Claw.

[scott 0]

200 kmh!?I seriously doubt it.Especially here in aus.Then again,we had the fastest coaster for a while,so you never know.

[Nebuchanezzar 0]

But could it get to 200km/h in the space of its drop, I doubt it.

[Slick 2,187]

The Giant Drop, Space Probe, Fear Fall and Mega Drop are all free fall drop rides. In other words there is no mechanics in aiding your fall (apart from the magnets at the bottom stopping the gondola.) So if the Giant Drop falls at a speed 135k/ph compounding, and it is the tallest free fall ride in the world, it would be impossible for a tower almost 1/4 of its size to drop at 204 or whatever kilometres p/h. Unless those carnies have a magic stick that makes everything go super fast, but only Cedar Point have one of them.

[Richard 978]

Mega Drop is a pneumatic launched ride. That is, riders are launched towards the ground (with an initial launch force of -0.5Gs - freefall as with Giant Drop et al is 0G by definition). Also having said that, the speed of this ride is only around 75km/hr. I'm not sure what your paper's reading to get 200km/hr. I worked out the other day exactly how fast it would need to launch you towards the ground to achieve 200km/hr. I can't remember the figure I got, but you're talking speeds that cause the human body to become not much more than a ball of jelly in a fraction of a second,

[Nebuchanezzar 0]

Slick my man, thats exactally what I meant buddy. Stupid false advertising.

[HussRainbow 0]

yeah I really don't know why the papers talk it up soo much, its false!

[Slick 2,187]

Question for Hussrainbow, What company is the Ali Babra ride that looks like a Huss rainbow made from?

[HussRainbow 0]

A.R.M make the Ali Baba, they also manufactured the HANGOVER, but the owners of that converted the original SKYMASTER into a floorless version, which is great. Also one very distinct thing you can tell with Ali Baba is that, on the lower arm that is connected to the gondola, there are 2 crank shafts that run along both sides. These keep the gondola upright, just like the parallel conduct system that is inside the Rainbows lower arm.

[kennykoala 0]

the ali baba is crap!!! I too really like the Rainbow, it hasent been at the ekka in about 3-4 years now:( But for sure the rainbow is heaps better than ali baba. WHY? dont know..but the ride dosent even feel like the rainbow. Theres more force at the top when ur on rainbow.

[Gazza 1,864]

Maybe because AB had unpadded OSTRs.

[HussRainbow 0]

Gazza, alibaba doesnt have padded restraints,with rainbow you can just feel the force at the top more because of the lap bars, these give you a great sense of freefall. Unfortunetly Kenny, I don't if Rainbow will ever come back to EKKA. O'Neills the new owners only bring it out for the Easter Show. I even travelled up there mainly for rainbow. I hope that O'Neills will bring it to Melbourne, because this will be the second year that we wont see it :mad:

[Gazza 1,864]

Gazza, alibaba doesnt have padded restraints

I know, I just said that. So, is there anymore news on the Street Fighter? was it at the Ekka, and will it be at the melbourne show? Do you know if it will also be at country shows (because its only one trailer)