Crackerjack Review

Hurricane · Post by **Hurricane** » Fri May 30, 2008 10:51 pm

Well, the lineup was not impressive, and it was VERY muddy... not much more to say lol.

RIDES:

Hurricane: Youngs
Music Trip: Youngs
Cha Cha:: Unknown
Super Jumper: TPA
Super Trooper: Trindalls
Hollywood Drive: Evans
Kamikaze: Watkins

I arrived just after opening. It was a ghost town there, none of the rides even had there lights on or the music. I had thought for a second it was cancelled!

My first ride of the night was Hollywood Drive, it has new signage and looks really good.

I then moved over to the Cha Cha and had a whirl... now whoever was driving that beast was freakin EVIL! Spending litterally 15 minutes on that nearly made me ill. It would have to be one of the fastest Cha Cha's i've ever ridden, minus Bells and Supa Sizzler.

The appearance was rather average.

I then walked over to Watkins Kamikaze, only to find it was encountering issues and wouldn't open till later in the night. So I then went over to Young's Music Trip, only to realize it was having issues as well.

I then went over to Young's Hurricane... I was locked in and actually a bit nervous as I havn't been on any rides since EKKA last year. And as the ride started it made a violent rumble and stopped. I BROKE the Hurricane

After about 10 minutes the ride was going again, it was a decent ride but not as good as Bell's or Marches. It wasn't going that close to the center pole, and the whoosh sound just sounded like a tragic fart to be honest.

I then saw that Kamikaze was running so I scrambled over to ride, now this is a ride that has really seen better days. After I had paid my 6 dollars to get on, I sat in the front row. My harness and seat were covered in duct tape and none of the lights on the ride were working at all. The ride just spun backwards and forwards and didn't even stop at the top once.

I then went over to Super Jumper, I much prefer Lauries Techno Jump (or Bouncy Bouncy as I call it) This ride had none of the lights on, the cycle was improved from the last time I rode it, but I happened to sit in a dodgy car. I wasn't bouncing anywhere near as high as any of the other cars.

I then noticed that Youngs Music Trip had a huge crowd gathering so I presumed it was about to open. I guess I was wrong... and by 6:30 it still wasn't running at all.

I then went over to Super Trooper, and let me say the Trindalls didn't seem happy at all. Every other ride was attracting people, and not ONE person had brought a ticket. I went up and paid my 6 dollars, and I think it was Robert Trindall running it, the lighting on the ride looks great, but the cars and sweeps could do with a tidy up. The ride itself was incredibly fast and tilted to the full 45 degrees and was very relaxing.

I then realised that Music Trip had it's lights on, So I went and brought my ticket. This was another of those "15 minute long rides" that I encountered. I loved the operator interaction on this ride, and I had a girl next to me who was about to barf. I Kindly spoke to her as we were sitting at the top and pointed at her friend and said "That way"

Music Trip was looking in good shape, but NOTHING compared to bells. But it gets brownie points for having a picture of Madonna on it!

Ride Count:

Hurricane: 2
Cha Cha: 2
Super Jumper: 1
Kamikaze: 1
Music Trip: 3
Super Trooper: 1
Hollywood Drive: 1

Top Gunner14 · Post by **Top Gunner14** » Sat May 31, 2008 7:43 am

Geez, a pretty sad carnival. Was that Young's cha cha there? Probably was, and what a letdown with heaps of the rides having issues when you get there! And i think by the sound of you, the Kamikaze needs alot of work and might be looking as bad as the OFA Skymaster. Kamikaze looks great with all the artwork and when all the lights work. Thanx for the review Dan, can't wait to see the pictures.

Cheers
Top Gunner14

princess · Post by **princess** » Sat May 31, 2008 8:39 am

LOL

great review, hurricane, does sound a bit dodgey, actually there is nothing more sad than a carnival, with some rides working and some not, loss of atmosphere etc.

Hurricane · Post by **Hurricane** » Sat May 31, 2008 8:45 am

Nah, it wasn't Young's Cha Cha, it had white sweeps with a pink center, and white cars with rainbow writing on the back saying "Cha Cha"

And yes Princess, there was no atmosphere at all at Crackerjack. Not even any of the people in the joints were spruiking. I think there was maybe 100 - 200 people at the showgrounds at the max. I saw Robert Trindall around the showgrounds a few times, and he didn't look too happy about the turnout. I reckon if Cyber Party had been there that ride really would have knocked all the others out. Even on a dead day that ride still draws the people.

Now, when mum gets back from Thailand with my laptop later this afternoon. I will transfer the photos from my phone to the PC. They aren't the worlds best quality, but you can see the rides. I got photos of Kamikaze, Hurricane, Music Trip, Super Trooper and Cha Cha. I think I snuck in one or two of Super Jumper too but I can't remember.

EDIT: I forgot to mention, Coney Fair's Gravitron was there, and that was looking REAL tacky... Plain white ship with no artwork, and the sign for the ride was a plain blue background with a fluro light behind it with the word "Gravitron" on it.

But... I secretly went to the Royal Easter Show

The food van I brought my dinner from was still using Easter show cups and napkins! Oh... and according to Super Trooper I also went to Toowoomba. So I did a fair bit of travelling last night!

Post by **Zamperla** » Sat May 31, 2008 9:23 am

Hurricane, a pity your time at the event proved well under expectation. Sounds like weather had a lot to do with it. Maybe the showies themselves were casual about getting their rides sorted knowing no one was there.

A pity, but a great review!

look forward to your photos.

benclare · Post by **benclare** » Sat May 31, 2008 1:11 pm

Great review as always Hurricane; I have been to similar events before and it's so sad when there are issues with rides and no one is around.

Remind me never to sit next to a sick person when you're around; I can do without being thrown up on thank you very much!

It's happened to me once and that was enough!

princess · Post by **princess** » Sat May 31, 2008 8:28 pm

Lol Ben it nearly happened to you at the Royal lol.

Hurricane · Post by **Hurricane** » Sat May 31, 2008 9:17 pm

Yeah... lucky for Ben... I didn't mention that I did actually have someones dinner land on me in a unpleasant way on the Kamikaze from behind me... Only to find it was that same girl I was next to on the Music Trip

Post by **Zamperla** » Sat May 31, 2008 11:04 pm

Maybe it was her special way of showing that she liked you, Hurri?

Hurricane · Post by **Hurricane** » Sun Jun 01, 2008 12:13 am

Some way of showing it if you ask me!

princess · Post by **princess** » Sun Jun 01, 2008 7:16 am

tooheyzz · Post by **tooheyzz** » Sun Jun 01, 2008 7:29 am

That sure would be a story to tell the grandkids how I met your mum......she threw up on me and it was instant I knew I would marry her on day lol

Top Gunner14 · Post by **Top Gunner14** » Sat Jun 07, 2008 7:10 am

When are you going to do your photos Hurricane?

Hurricane · Post by **Hurricane** » Sat Jun 07, 2008 3:17 pm

Well as I'm sure your aware, my house kinda flooded. Thank goodness the photos were on my phone. So without further Adieu here they are!

P.S the quality isn't that good because it was just taken on my phone.

CHA CHA

HOLLYWOOD DRIVE

HURRICANE

KAMIKAZE

MUSIC TRIP

SUPER TROOPER

OVERVIEW

Matt Diabolism · Post by **Matt Diabolism** » Sun Jun 08, 2008 6:02 am

Nice work Hurricane.I'm 95% certain that Cha Cha was down here in Victoria,in '06 at Traralgon.I couldnt work out whose it was either.The Kamikaze was at that show as well,and back then one of the arms had almost all the globes blown,but it sounds even worse now.At least you got a Hurricane fix,even if it wasnt all that great!.

Top Gunner14 · Post by **Top Gunner14** » Sun Jun 08, 2008 6:50 am

Thanks hurricane, I knew what Cha you were talkin about, I saw it at Lithgow Show last year. It runs pretty fast too, well it did when I saw it. You can see how bad the conditions were up there, in front of the Cha Cha, big water puddle. I've never seen trindall's Super Trooper before, looks pretty good and looks like the same model as Bell's. And boy does Kamikaze sound shocking, they better fix it up, it used to look awesome when all the lights were on. I think they need to take it off the road for a bit of time and fix up a couple of things.

Thanks again for the photos Hurricane. Now time to save up for the Ekka

Cheers
Top Gunner14

Hurricane · Post by **Hurricane** » Sun Jun 08, 2008 9:54 pm

Trindalls Trooper is not the same model as Bells, but seems to be the same as TPA's. Bells is more square and Trindalls seats are more rounded. And yes the conditions were fairly shocking hehe.

katestow77 · Post by **katestow77** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 9:59 pm

hey all

just thought id let uno that the Cha Cha that was at crakerjack is actually owned by Taylors. just thought you guys might be interested as hurricane wasnt shaw as to who owns it.

cheers kate

Josh in Rocky · Post by **Josh in Rocky** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 8:42 pm

miami music trip still looks the goods...

Top Gunner14 · Post by **Top Gunner14** » Sat Jun 14, 2008 7:02 am

Thanks Kate. I wasn't sure either who owned it. And yes Josh, Young's Miami is always in great shape