The Parkz Update: Aussie World, April 2015

We head north to the Sunshine Coast to check out the newly opened Professor Bogglesworth's Illusionarium and Bug Run children's coaster at Aussie World.

Image: Parkz. Aussie World continues its expansion with Bug Run (pictured) and Professor Bogglesworth's Illusionarium.

Update By Richard Wilson
26 April 2015

After delays of almost a year, Bug Run finally took its first miniature riders Easter 2015.

Some of the nifty sculpts around the coaster.

Anthill.

Blades of grass form a sort of tunnel around the turns at each end of the ride.

Hurrrrr!

One of Australia's best themed coasters is now a Pinfari wacky worm. Well done Aussie World for making so much from a particularly average kids ride!

The Plunge is a short flume ride with two drops including a double dip, and is probably the highest capacity in the park.

The rear end of the ride.

The top of the 2nd drop is enclosed.

To accomodate the 'off the shelf' layout of The Plunge a cutting was dug in the hillside.

The theming on the Plunge gives both the Vikings Flume at Sea World or Dreamworld's Rocky Hollow a run for their money.

Leak'n logs is an elaborate splash pad area adjacent to the Plunge, featuring a number of fountains and water curtains.

Ballroom Blitz is a typical Wave Swinger.

Octopus closed for maintenance.

The Giant Slide is a run-of-the-mill mat slide.

One of the best new features of the Giant Slide is the new perspective of the Wild Mouse it offers.

Rock n Roll Rebel was renamed Dark Rebel in recent times, with an updated lighting and music package.

Since its opening season, a canopy over the station and a spooky house have been added to the Giant Redback.

Professor Bogglesworth's Illusionarium is a walkthrough where groups wander through several rooms with quite impressive optical illusions, including spinning tunnels, seemingly bottomless pits, interesting lighting, mirrors, and even a revolving room.

The Illusionarium is housed in the old Funnybone Flicks movie theatre.

A nice piece of perspective pavement artwork hints at the contents of the attraction.

The Illusionarium is a great concept that is nicely executed, but with groups of 4-5 going through every 3-minutes, the attraction's paltry capacity is its biggest weakness. For a park that takes a not-so-subtle a dig at the Gold Coast parks with their less time in queues, more time on rides slogan, The Illusionarium's capacity could be one of the park's only weak points.

The new attractions that constitute the northern expansion of the park. Not a bad effort for a park that is piece-by-piece offering a very real alternative to the Gold Coast parks.