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TR: Australia etc (UniversalSingapore/Luna Park/Dreamworld/Sea World/WBMW/Luna Park/HKDL/Ocean Park)

Matt N

CF Legend
Great reports @davidm; really enjoying them, especially as Australia is a place that not many enthusiasts seem to have been!

Huge congratulations on #1000, also; DC Rivals looks like a stunning choice! Meanwhile, I'm still only on 63...

Out of interest, how would you say DC Rivals compares to other hypers you've done, as I'd presume you've done quite a few?
 

davidm

Strata Poster
^ Well as I've mentioned, I was on something like 12 before I got the bug properly so you are well ahead already (relatively speaking) ;)
And I'm not sure "hyper" is a class that defines a coaster "experience" particularly well, as I said DC most reminded me of Goliath (not a hyper), I s'pose its most like the 2-across Intamins though rather than the 4-across Intamins or B&Ms.
 

Matt N

CF Legend
^ Well as I've mentioned, I was on something like 12 before I got the bug properly so you are well ahead already (relatively speaking) ;)
And I'm not sure "hyper" is a class that defines a coaster "experience" particularly well, as I said DC most reminded me of Goliath (not a hyper), I s'pose its most like the 2-across Intamins though rather than the 4-across Intamins or B&Ms.
Ah right. Thanks @davidm!
 

Hixee

Flojector
Staff member
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Good work on #1000. Congratulations good sir! :)

This report is great. Plenty of beer too, good man. :D
 

davidm

Strata Poster
OK there was no avoiding it anymore, another milestone hit and on the Saturday it was the birthday I had managed to largely ignore for the
previous 2 weeks. Ugh.

I had a plan for the day though, but the weather wasn't looking too cooperative so that was a shame.

Wasn't raining first up, so had a wander up from Darling Harbour thru the Rocks to the bridge area.



Gosh there are some fugly buildings being put up here in the prime real estate area.





Liked this random art in the middle of the street though



We'll come back to this in a bit...



Anyway this is where I was heading, damned if I'm not going to ride the only roller coaster left in Sydney on my Birthday...



Hopped on a train to get across the bay and by then it was raining but what can you do...

Luna Park - Saturday 9th March.



They did 2 types of pass ; all day wristband thingy and a two rides only thingy. I only wanted to ride one ride but riding it twice seemed like
a good plan.

There used to be a big arrow looper here;



But the locals complained about the noise (no kidding, there are apartment blocks right over the park) so it was spited (and moved to the Gold
Coast as Cyclone at Dreamworld - now that Hot Wheels thing that was under maintenance when I was at Dreamworld earlier - already had the cred
so meh)



This is what I was here for though, Wild Mouse







It was OK actually ; for a pretty old wild mouse (wooden though, so special), not a patch on Blackpool's of course (RIP), but what is.



Chatted briefly with the ride ops, they reckoned the best time to ride it was in the rain, so that was a win.





Park itself was OK for its size. Nicer than the one in Melbourne I think (possibly my opinion is clouded by NOT being spited here though). They
had a few standard flats and a rotor that they seemed proud of (not the original rotor they had though apparently, a more recent version).







So not a reason to visit Sydney at all, but if you were in Sydney, worth dropping into.

Back on the train to get back to the other side and after a spot of lunch sat in Circular Quay headed up to the bridge for the afternoon's
tourist activity.

I'd done the bridge climb on my first visit here, back in 2000 but figured it was worth doing again today given the reasoning to be here.
Seemed to remember it being a heck of a lot cheaper to do the first time I did it though ; this time it certainly wasn't cheap - never mind
no worries, just get on with it.

Bridge Climb base is in one of the arches under the road leading onto the bridge and it all a very efficient process getting you kitted out
for the 'climb' (really just a leisurely walk - there's one ladder you have to climb but the rest of it is no more strenuous than walking up
a hill )





Despite the efficiency it takes you a pretty long time to get kitted up ; there is a lot of faff involved but all pretty well done - you have
to get kitted up in their jumpsuits, everything tied onto you and all harnessed up to a cable system to prevent you jumping off.

For the leisurely walk up the bridge the weather was holding out, but looking a bit grim - by the time we got near the top though it was
raining again and a bit unpleasant, we were ordered to put our raincoats on by the guide (who was great of course)

Anyway the pics were a bit rubbish then, possibly due to the weather, more likely due to me being in them though I think





Being a goon I requested a pic with the cred in the background - that made the guide laugh!



And here, just for comedy value, pic from my 2000 visit - better weather then, same (if younger) muppet ruining the view though;



The weather was bit horrible on the way down the bridge, but by the time we de-kitted ourselves (another period of faff) it had cleared so
pretty bad timing in that the worst weather of the day was while I was on the climb - nevermind though.

After the climb back in 2000, the guide had taken a bunch of us to the pub nearby which had a great rooftop bar and view over the city. This
time the guide did not offer to take us to the pub but I went anyway.

Only the view was mostly spoiled by a stupid big boat in the way! Ha.



Look you can see the Opera House;



The stupid big boat in question



Had a couple of beers then, headed back to hotel and then out for a slap up posh dinner



Just as I left the restaurant and wandered down to Darling Harbour, Sydney kindly put on a big firework display to mark my birthday, that was
nice of them.



Had a few beers in a brewbar on the harbour to commiserate celebrate the occasion.



So that was it, another milestone done, onto the next one I guess...
 

Hutch

Strata Poster
Lotta creds and a lotta beer. Doesn't get much better than that, does it?

Congrats on the #1000, glad it was a good one too. :)
 

Hixee

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Hear hear, happy birthday dude. Looks like a pretty good day to me. All under your own terms - perfect. :)

Bridge walk is one I want to do too. Cliche, maybe, but some thing out there you've just 'gotta do'.
 

Howie

Donkey in a hat
Great reporting as always, Dave. Especially liked the goony thumbs-up pictures on the bridge. Not cringey at all. ;)
Congrats on the milestones - the 1000 creds and... y'know, the other one.
 

davidm

Strata Poster
^ Yeah "special" pictures those aren't they.

--

Right a few more non-coaster days to rattle through. Not sure I've even got any tenuous coaster connections in any of this, sorry about that.

Went to the beach for a looksee...











I don't "do" beaches though, so quickly found a pub instead ; the marvellously named "Bucket List" overlooking the beach.



Found a few more pubs back in the city too, was kinda looking for the same sort of places as I'd liked in Melbourne/Brisbane so had headed
to a hipster-trendy suburb, there were a few but I think after my considerable research effort that Melbourne > Brisbane > Sydney >>>>> Gold
Coast in the beer stakes.



The beer-app gets you on screen in the pub if you are (un)lucky.





Did a "do a lot of the tourist stuff" day, started out at the Powerhouse Museum which had some Star Wars exhibition going on (its a travelling
thing, think it was at the O2 in London a couple of years ago). Was OK, but clearly predated the new films as was all heavy on the prequels
as well as the original stuff. Was geeky enough to keep me happy for a while though.













Went to the SeaLife next. Had been here before back in 2002 and had thought it was one of the best aquariums I'd been to. Well Merlin have
ruined it I think as I borderline hated it this time - not recommended then. :(

Hated it so much I didn't even try to take any fish-pictures, just some phone crap instead.



They had a "ride" - a boat thing around a penguin exhibit. Was crap.



Went up a big tower. Decent views, even if the bridge/opera house area is bit obscured by buildings.

This is a 360 degree shot - 30 odd pics stuck together.



Was my last night in Sydney though, so had a beer or two to see me off



Flight out wasn't until late on the next day so ticked off a few more things, theres a viewing platform on one of the bridge's towers and that
was pretty good.





I became strangely obsessed by this (now empty) brutalist housing block right in the city centre (info here). Was social housing for people
displaced when they gentrified the Rocks, only now they have evicted all the people from the place (presumably since it in such a prime
location and there was $$$$ in it.) :(



Speaking of the Rocks, there were a couple of pubs I'd meant to pop into which I'd missed, so made sure I dropped in before I left



But also managed the contemporary art gallery (was OK) and the city museum too, its not all coasters and pubs you know!



Wandered around the botanical gardens, amusing flower display anyway



And thats right by the Opera House so took some pics there too.



One final pub in Sydney (OK it is all coasters and beer I guess) was a bit of a dive-bar with a Star Wars fetish - liked it, shame I had a
plane to catch though or I'd have stayed there a while! (Bar is "SG" which stands for Spooning Goats which for some reason they made them
change the name of as the city thought that was "suggestive" or something. Weird Aussies!)







Awesome toilet work!





Anyway off to the airport now, see ya Australia - you've been a blast! :)
 

Hixee

Flojector
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Sounds pretty good to me - coasters, beer, sights and sun? Yes please.
 

davidm

Strata Poster
Part Three : Also not Australia

I smugly thought I had been very clever with the big flights involved on this trip by booking overnight flights for the big legs, only I came
a bit unstuck with this one from Sydney to Hong Kong ; in that the flight itself was fine and was due in at around 5am. However the flight
was about an hour early, Hong Kong immigration/customs was a breeze and so I was then at the airport having to wait around for the first
train of the day to get me into the city - so that was the best part of 2 hours sitting around waiting for a train. Ha ha, very funny.

Dumped my luggage at the hotel (of course I could not check in yet) and went for a walk. Still stupid early in the morning though so pretty
quiet still. Spotted that the tram up to the peak was open and wasn't too far from the hotel so that became the plan.



Been up there before, but it rubbish weather so only barely got to see "the view" then, but this time it was a lot clearer (but the viewing
platform thing up at the peak was not open for another few hours so the pics are all from the roads/paths around there)



There's a little trail (couple of Km I guess) around the mountain-top so walked around that to see if there were any good views, occupied a
while anyway until a coffee place at the top had opened up and I could get some breakfast.





Headed back down, wandered around a big aviary in a park for a while which was nice. The city and come to life by then and I headed towards
the bayside to see if there was anything going on there near the ferris wheel which I'd seen from a distance.



There wasn't though, but there was nearby a city-planning museum (which I must admit doesn't sound particularly thrilling) but I found quite
interesting. A lot on information on how (and why) the city has grown and what the future plans might entail. Spent quite a while in there
actually.





Look future plans for Disneyland;







Had a look at the wheel, didn't ride it though as its rather dwarfed by the buildings around it so view-wise wouldn't have thought it was
up to much.





Had some lunch then checked into the hotel and grabbed some sleep - was a bit flagging by then.

Headed out later, and found some beer you'll be surprised to hear.



Gooning will be resumed shortly then...
 

davidm

Strata Poster
Hong Kong Disneyland - Thursday 14th March.

Obligatory Mickey Mouse themed metro pics;





Easy to get to from the city this place so was hanging around a bit waiting for them to open. The weather was not looking too promising for the
day though, was very grey and overcast so figured Id rush around and get the creds first before taking my time over the rest of the park.







(Hyper) Space Mountain was first up. Of course I've done a few of these, but never with the Star Wars overlay (have done California's
with the Ghost Galaxy overlay so was kinda expecting it to be a bit like that).





The outside of the ride and the queue line were all Star Wars-ed up and that was all quite cool, but the station itself, apart from one TV
screen, was devoid of any Star Wars stuff so that was a bit of a dud.



But the ride itself I really liked - thought it got better and better as it went on with the Star Wars bits and the occasions when there
were red/green laser chaser-lights going off I thought were really rather great. Really enjoyed this then.



Next up was the mine train Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars which I was quite looking forward too. I knew what its "tricks" were
but I hadn't watched any videos of it recently so the order of the tricks and such was not fresh in my mind. Negligible queue too - presumably
weather putting people off today meant I could ride it a few times easily.





Again, really liked this as well. The tricks were good and the animatronics all worked well (unlike its Animal Kingdom cousin).







Last cred is the silly Intamin RC. Ridden the one in Paris so I knew it was a bit rubbish, at least this one was walk-on though unlike
Paris when I had a huge wait for the stupid thing.











Anyway, don't think much of these at all so +1 and done.



OK creds done I can relax now, it had not started raining yet but it didn't look long off.



The only other thing here I was desperately keen to do was the Mystic Manor dark ride, which everyone raves about. And I can see why, it was
really very good. Think I preferred the (similar trackless system) Hunny Hunt in Tokyo, but this was very good as well - lots of stuff going
on and some clever transitions between scenes - need to ride it a few times to get the full experience as the cars take slightly different
routes through the ride. All very cool.





















Hong Kong's 'Hunny Hunt' ride was not up to the same standard as Tokyo's tho'





There something about that Small World ride that borderline terrifies me - its like a bad trip or something, lazy stereotypes of various
countries and that incessant tune. Just horrible. Ugh.











Ugh the terror!




I guess that the next "big" ride is the Iron Man Experience - this was presented very well, nicely themed area and tons of stuff in the queue
line.





However the ride itself? Not so good. Felt like it was Star Tours with all the fun taken out of it. I mean I'll happily reride Star Tours
multiple times, this I was only going to do the once I thought (I did actually come back to it later when the rain came down just because
its indoors, but didn't think it got any better on a second viewing). OK fair enough I like Star Wars and I'm mostly ambivalent about the
Marvel stuff, but still thought the ride-film was pretty poor. Hmmm.







The new (well newly themed) shooter ride next door was a few weeks away from opening, I stared at it for a while for any sign of technical
rehearsals but they seemed only to be doing a bit of staff training so no exclusive early action for me.









It was pretty heavily raining by now, so the day slowed down a lot, did ride the Jungle Cruise in the rain and Space Mountain and Mystic
Manor a few more times though.







I'm not a great fan (or in fact, at all a fan) of shows at parks. But at least they are often indoor, so useful places to hide out from rain
in. Did Mickey's Book of Shadows (something like that anyway) - production values were high, lots of complicated sets but it was all just a
procession of people singing the big movie tunes (I assume, not sure I've ever seen any of the films that the songs were from). Was probably
very good if you like that sort of thing though?









I'd done the Lion King show in Florida in the past and was reasonably impressed by that then, so gave it another go here - yeah again very
impressive - better than the Mickey one for me I think.







OK rain has gone so I can get a few more mine train rides and wander around the park a bit before I go.

Nice work on the castle, not.







Despite the rain I've had a pretty good day - probably liked the park a bit more than I expected to if I'm honest. Not sure I'd rush back
though - maybe see what happens with that second gate in a few years?





Still in tourist mode, went to the local Hard Rock for food. Food was OK but the place was a bit poor so had some more beer elsewhere instead.





Last day of goonery next then, holiday is almost over :(
 

davidm

Strata Poster
Ocean Park - Friday 15th March.

Even easier to get to than Disney this; 10 mins on the train from the city and you are at the gate - I think the train line is reasonably new
as I recall thinking you had to get a bus here in the past, but anyway its dead easy now.



Weather wasn't great today either, pretty overcast all day but I didn't get the downpours of the previous day so that probably worked out OK in
that Disney had a lot more weather-proof stuff going for it than this place.

Was pretty busy getting in as well, which worried me a little



So I didn't hang around and headed straight for the cable-car up the mountain to where the rides are.

Now I knew full well that the park was in two halves ; some animal stuff down by the entrance and then the rides were up on the mountain and
you had to cable-car or train-it from one bit to the other. What I had not quite realised was how much of a huge trek it was between the two
bits, it is a decidedly non-trivial cable-car journey up a hill then alongside a mountain-side for a mile or so. Actually really quite
fantastic that was ; they run two cable-car systems in parallel so the mountainside is just covered in cable cars - really pretty spectacular.





Yay cred in sight!





Being a good goon I had got their early and so had to hang about a little for the coasters to start running ; also what I had not fully
appreciated is how hilly the ride-section of the park was. I mean obviously it was going to be hilly, it being up at the pointy end of a
little mountain, but I think I thought that everything up there would all be kinda in the same area, which it isn't, theres still quite a
large area that it all covers and there are a few different zones you have to walk to to find all the rides.





Anyway the first zone nearest the cable-car station had the powered ride and the B&M so hung about there until they opened, took a quick spin
in the observation tower while I was waiting, this pic is a stitched 360-degree panorama of the place;



Spotted things had started running on the way back down so off we go. First up was the Mack powered coaster Arctic Blast





Wasn't awful, wasn't great.

But near to that was the main attraction I guess, the B&M floorless Hair Raiser (daft name that). Small queue and they were batching
pretty well so got on in 10 minutes ; more "must remove your secured glasses" crap though.





It was OK, but not great. Spectacular location of course, but oddly doesn't make that much of the location as its kinda stuck on top of/at the
back of a building up there, so the lift hill takes you up and away from the big views and the drop into the loop is sort of stuck between
the building and the mountainside. The rest of the ride takes place alongside the edge of the mountain but you don't really get time to
appreciate the view really as it does all its zero-g-roll, dive loop stuff in that way floorless B&Ms do.

And obviously the views aren't important, and you can see them all from the cable-car anyway. The ride itself is a bit shaky to be honest,
it rattles its way through the first few elements a bit, bouncing down the drop and loop rather than taking them all fast and smooth. The
second half of the ride is more normal and its fine, but one of the smaller B&Ms I think, or at least it felt that way. Rode it a few times
anyway, better at the front of course (being floorless) but not bad anywhere on it really (being a beemer).







Struggled a bit to find the next coaster, was a bit of a trek down a few hills to get there and as I got near to it it seemed not to be running
which was a bit of a downer.



Whether they mended it or they were just very slow ops I'm not sure as there was a little Q for it which I joined. They were handing out
cards on it to anyone who wanted the VR-option - not really sure why but you took the card and then when you were seated they came along and
too the card off you and installed a silly VR headset on you. The upshot of that was that it took an age to turn around the train ; like nearly
15 minutes - such faff.







Wild West Mine Train - clearly I didn't do the VR option and I can't really understand why you would do because the view on this ride
was just awesome - right along the edge of the mountainside, looking over a huge bay of water and then you turn around and do a little
mine train ride with that as the background - really liked this then.

Queue had built up by the time I'd ridden it - that looks like a good hours wait I reckoned so I didn't ride it again, which was a pity. The
ride itself isn't anything spectacular but it was OK and just elevated hugely by its position on the mountainside.



Had to hang around for a while to get any pics of it "in action";



Ride was all terribly rusty-looking, whether that was Nemesis-style themeing I don't know, but given its position on the sea-edge its probably
all real-rust rather than theme-rust.





Back up some hillsides (escalator-the-ride doing well here)



Last coaster also has a bit of a spectacular hilltop view - not as good as the mine train but still not bad.



Unfortunately the ride itself was a bit bad though, Dragon is an ageing Arrow looper and is pretty painful.









I did ride this a couple of times though, since there was no line for it at all. Was pretty brutal both times, really not a good coaster at
all and the no-glasses thing didn't really let the view help it at all. Ouch.











There were quite a few animal-things up on the mountain too ; big dolphin-rescue thing that was trying to pretend it was all about dolphin
welfare rather then being some exhibit in an amusement park.



That was near an alternate route to the mine train, they were still dispatching really slowly so the local birds-of-prey would hang out
on the ride between trains.



But look at that when they do cycle, splendid that.



Coaster model thing;



Shark thing was OK there, pretty big pool and presented quite well



Jellyfish thing was OK too



(even if pics are a bit crap)



I did ride their rapids too, which were funny. They were not good rapids at all, fairly tame. But they had several points where they just had
hose-pipes firing water straight at the ride - so not at all subtle and you got quite wet despite not getting splashed at all.



Right, back down the mountain the same way - the train-thing was not running so this was the only way.









Wandered around the animal bits back at ground level for a while. They have pandas;





And Aggretsuko-pandas too



And tyres, shaped into Pandas (???)





And there is a big show-aquarium as well which was pretty good





So I actually think that the place was a bit better than I had thought it was going to be. Really liked the mine train, the beemer was OK and
the animal stuff wasn't too bad either and the place was a lot larger than I had imagined. Had quite a decent time overall but I was done by
early afternoon so headed back to the city.



Met up with Gavin for a few beers that evening Kowloon side (thanks Gavin!) but he wasn't hanging around for a big beer-session (something to
do with having his laundry to do or something) - ended up having a rubbish pint in a rubbish bar for far too much money before I called it
a day.



That was my last full day of holiday too, flight home the next day, but not until late so have one last quick instalment of faffing around to
come...
 

davidm

Strata Poster
Right last day then. :(

Flight home wasn't until the evening so a bit of wandering around was due.

The previous time I was in Hong Kong I had stayed down in Causeway Bay at the 'other end' of the city that I was in this time, so I went down
there just to check it was all still there. It was.



Gun, wasn't noon so it wasn't being fired



Star Wars lego in full flow



This was a "sight" for some reason. Chinese tourist parties were lapping it up anyway.



Got the ferry across the bay, since you really should do that





There's a big building on that side of the bay



So went up that for some views



Pretty good views to be fair,







Anyway lunch time was calling,



And one last wander around some pubs



This was back on the Hong Kong Island side, I kinda preferred wandering that hilly-compact side rather than the flatter Kowloon side.



Last pub was another one with a Star Wars obsessed toilet!





Anyway that was that, back at the airport later for flight to London, experienced the most useless beer glass ever;



Flight got back to London at stupid o'clock Sunday morning and had to hang around Heathrow for a few hours before the connecting flight up
to Manchester. Watched the Australian Grand Pix on my phone from the city I had been in a couple of weeks before. Nice.
 

davidm

Strata Poster
Final Score

Universal Studios Singapore
Battlestar Galactica - CYLON
Battlestar Galactica - HUMAN
Canopy Flyer
Enchanted Airways
Puss In Boots’ Giant Journey
Revenge of the Mummy


Marina Bay Carnival
Euro Coaster
Sharky and the Pirates


Luna Park (St Kilda)
Scenic Railway - down, SPITE!
Silly Serpent
Speedy Beetle


Dreamworld
BuzzSaw
Escape from Madagascar
Mick Doohan's Motocoaster

Tower of Terror II
Hot Wheels SideWinder - down, maintenance

Sea World
Jet Rescue
SpongeBob's Boating School Blast
Storm Coaster


Warner Bros. Movie World
DC Rivals HyperCoaster
Green Lantern Coaster
Scooby-Doo Spooky Coaster Next Generation
Superman Escape

Arkham Asylum - Shock Therapy
Road Runner Rollercoaster

Wet'n'Wild Water World
Surfrider - down, poor timing

Luna Park, Sydney
Wild Mouse

Hong Kong Disneyland
Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars
Hyperspace Mountain
RC


Ocean Park
Arctic Blast
Dragon
Hair Raiser
Wild West Mine Train


--

That's 31 coasters, (+28, 3 ridden before and 2 SPITEs)

--

Was a really good holiday though - not an out and out cred-run at all (I mean 31 coasters over 3 weeks, thats poor really). Indeed I would
say Australia is not really a good place for coaster-goonery; the parks are not great and (DC Rivals aside) there's not anything 'special'
there. But the point of the holiday wasn't a big cred-run anyway, the point was to be on holiday for 3 weeks and go somewhere interesting and
that was all well accomplished I think.

Had a couple of beers along the way, what more can one ask for? :)

(well, apart from that Scenic Railway spite, that still hurts :( )
 
Last edited:

TilenB

Strata Poster
It seems that you got quite lucky with the spites maintenance-wise, considering you visited year-round parks in an off-peak time. Shame about poor timing on Scenic Railway, though. :/

This looked like quite a fun trip and I'm certainly looking forward to checking out the two parks in Hong Kong in a similar fashion (though with more crowds and heat) this August! :D

Poslano z mojega ONEPLUS A3003 z uporabo Tapatalk
 

Hixee

Flojector
Staff member
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Yeah, really enjoyed this one. Thanks for writing it up. Saved for future reference. ;)
 

Serena

Miss CoasterForce 2016
Staff member
Social Media Team
Great report!

"Aggretsuko Pandas" made me laugh :)

Oh and you're not the only one who finds Small World kind of nightmarish!
 

gavin

Moderator
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Met up with Gavin for a few beers that evening Kowloon side (thanks Gavin!) but he wasn't hanging around for a big beer-session (something to
do with having his laundry to do or something)

How dare you. I don't "do" laundry. I had to collect it from the person that does before they closed at 9pm.
 
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