Australian Amusement Fanatics

I am working on that weekend, but I will see if I can get there during the day.

I cant believe this, I have just done six paragraphs, then submitted, only to find it had timed out.

Ok back to the beginning, I started with the Kiddies area, nice neat rides, Gold Mine coaster was there nice Kiddies ride, also Crazy Rider, this also a great ride for kids and parents, after watching this for sometime I was not sure if you actually had to peddle to get this over or not, but came away thinking that you had to.

The next thing I saw was the new Wheel, very slick, very large, white and red theme, had people queueing all day, but it never ever really seemed to go, just loading and unloading all the time, nice lighting at night, only white lights, but good phasing.

Was also impressed with Picketts new ride, (dont ask me the name) it is a Matterhorn type ride, the lighting for this was amazing, exactlly the same as the european ones we have seen on this site.


Rainbow was there in its same spot,Chaos has moved, not to a good spot, where Hurricane was last year, now that has completely gone. No Limit has moved down to corner near Tiapan, I would not be impressed if I were Bells, it was also next to the Sling Shot, which took something away from No Limit. Speed was in the spot No Limit was in last year, which in my opinion is a great spot, Paviers must be very happy with that move, especially as last year they were in the Kiddies area.

I also caught up with Aussie and Oz, working hard on the Gold Mine Coaster (not) only kidding.

I am going to post this now before I loose this too.

I did not ride anything, I will wait until I have someone to ride with, next weekend. Zipper is still out of the question.[/img]

Good on you Princess! I would be honoured to go on a couple of rides with you and will see if I can get someone to take me to the RES next weekend. before that though, I'm heading out there tomorrow and am hoping and praying the rain holds off. We've had a bit today and it's quite cold but fairly dry which should keep the carnival area fairly crowded.

I'll post a review after I get home tomorrow. I'm so excited and probably won't get too much sleep tonight.

Hello everyone!

I’ve just gotten home from a wonderful day at the Sydney Royal Easter Show, a day that was cut short somewhat by rainy weather but it was still good nevertheless. Actually, the rain held off during my riding time in the carnival so I am very grateful for that.

Well, where do I start? Dad and I moseyed on out there nice and early which turned out to be good as the carnival, although crowded wasn’t too bad and the queue for the rides was negligible. We started by taking a walk along Australia Avenue, capturing the atmosphere and planning what rides we were going to try. Dad ruled out No Limit, Speed and the Power Surge for him strait away but agreed to watch me if I wanted to have a go.

As Princess pointed out, the layout of the main carnival has changed somewhat, with No Limit operating near March’s Wave Swinger and the Taipan roller coaster. Although bell’s Amusements might’ve been initially disappointed with this arrangement, it has worked out quite well as the Taipan is very popular and those who go to ride it find themselves transfixed by No Limit and often pluck up the courage to give it a go. Yes, I feel confident in saying Elwyn Bell would be happy with the amount of money he’s making on that ride and of course the Thunderbolt.

As for me, the first ride Dad and I did was TPA’s Crazy Coaster, located in its usual spot, next to the Haunted Mansion and the Nova live broadcast area. Where Chaos was last year stands the Power Surge which was extremely popular and is a very impressive machine which makes a fairly loud noise. Anyway, just after we got off Crazy Coaster which now has seatbelts for the little ones, it began pouring with rain. We ducked for cover but most of the rides continued operating, seemingly unaware of the drenching everyone was copping. My main concern with this was the possibility someone would slip over on those ramps and stairs used to enter and exit each ride. I guess this was covered though as I know the showies wouldn’t’ve continued operating if there was any possibility of danger.

Anyway, the rain did give us a chance to check out the pavilions, the Dome, World Bizarre and of course the showbags although I don’t usually buy any as I save my dough for the rides.

Well, fortunately the sun came out again so we headed back to the carnival for some fantastic rides.

First of all, I know you’ll be interested in the Rainbow Huss so here’s what I noticed about it. Obviously I cannot comment on the overall look of the ride but I can say Gary O’Neil has done a superb job maintaining this ride. It is operating better than ever, sounds great and the ride cycle goes for absolutely ages. There was a little girl who we all thought hated the ride as she kept on screaming for it to stop. When it finally did, she was all disappointed and I am sure she pestered her folks for another go on it. We all laughed! The Rainbow is right in the thick of the action, close to O’Neil’s Ranger and just up the road from Speed. As for the Ranger, obviously there were no problems regarding the incident at Moomba because it was at the RES, running great and attracting huge crowds. I didn’t ride it due to the queues but was transfixed by the sound and stood and listened for a ride cycle which also went for ages.

While we were in that area of the carnival we had a go on Laurie’s Breakdance. As I said last year, this is sooo much better than Luna Park’s Huss one, spinning in both directions almost constantly and offering long rides to all of us. I love this ride and didn’t stop laughing the entire time.

Now for Extreme Speed. I can’t say for certain whether this ride is scarier than No Limit but it sure is intense, pulling nearly 4 G’s, spinning and inverting at the same time, completely crazy and unbelievable! One of the scary aspects of this ride I think is sitting right at the top, waiting for people to get on at the bottom. It was fairly windy today too and spitting rain when I was there. One thing’s for sure, Pavier’s would’ve been absolutely delighted with the money they were raking in on Speed. The RAS sure did them a favour in arranging that prime location, just outside the always popular showbag hall.

It was funny seeing the Slingshot in the main carnival too, another operator who benefited from the move for sure. It’s located close to March’s Wave Swinger, No Limit and the Taipan roller coaster. Also, they were handing out free ice coffees as I think Dare or somebody was sponsoring the attraction. I sure hope the riders had their drinks after going on the Slingshot, not before! Actually, we came across two chuckers during our journey around the carnival, one while we were waiting to ride Bell’s Thunderbolt and the other on the Wave Swinger. I sure felt sorry for the people mopping it all up. Speaking of the Thunderbolt, we had a go on it and again I was blown away by the speed of it, utterly amazing and fantastic! Once that siren comes on, you know you’re in for it. It was a little uncomfortable as Dad and I had to squeeze into one car but we managed it okay. The Thunderbolt was doing very brisk business, with two entry points handling the crowds and every available seat filled each and every time. The fellow who mopped up the vomit was well used to the job and did it with speed. He could always get a job as a chamber maid if he wanted a career change…

There were lots of rides I didn’t get to go on, mainly because of the large queues and heavy rain which came and went all day but I made sure I had a look at every one and saw how they were doing. Watkins’s Space Roller was packing the people in, the sound system was amazing and they had this fellow who did a blastoff countdown at the beginning of each ride cycle. I’m not sure whether this was recorded or not.

By the time it came to decisions on No Limit, Zipper and Claw, the rain was getting really heavy and I didn’t want Dad hanging around waiting for me in the wet while I had a ride. All rides were doing really well and we had an extended look at No Limit as Dad and others gasped and wondered what crazy person would go on such a thing. Dad knows I’m crazy! Also, I can’t be sure but we didn’t think Durkin’s Claw was working or at least there was no one going on it. Also, we saw this other thing, sort of like a Thunderbolt with a Chinese dragon covering it. Is this perhaps the new attraction you mentioned Princess?

I’m hopeful of getting back there late next week and hopefully the weather will be better and I’ll be able to check out the Power Surge among others.

Well, there you have it, my first and hopefully not last review for this year’s Royal Easter Show, a little disappointing with the rain but the magic was still there. One thing that was missing was the Hurricane. There definitely was an absence and both Dad and I commented on it. I’m surprised Bell’s or someone didn’t bring in their units, perhaps there wasn’t enough room. I missed the very familiar noise the Hurricane makes, although the Techno Jump and the Power Surge sort of made up for it.

As for the Goldmine Coaster, Dad and I had a quick tour of the Kids Carnival and were unable to find it! I was hopeful of saying hello to Ozshowkid, Aussie or anyone from AAF who was working there. We didn’t search everywhere but I was a little disappointed.

We were going to do the new Skyview Wheel which is impressive in size and is not all that expensive to ride but the queues are always huge and never seem to move so we gave it up before we could extremely wet.

Keep those reviews coming guys!

Excellent review Ben - well covered! You did a lot in the time you were there. You (and especially your dad) have a great tolerance for thrill rides. I'm not so sure I could've done everything that you managed to cover in that time.

Yes we did do a lot in a very short time. What we do is have a walk through and take a look at everything, then retrace our steps and do the rides as we go along.

As for my favourite ride experience, it's a tough one. I enjoyed everything I went on. The Breakdance and Wave Swinger are always traditional faves of mine but everything, including the atmosphere was electric.

Nice review Ben, yes that dragon thing is what I was talking about, amazing lighting, your father is one in a million, I love your dad lol

Welcome back Princess!

Yes Dad is pretty cool, putting up with my enthusiasm for rides although I suspect he is nearly as obsessed as I am. He leaves upside down rides to me but always does the rest.

By the way, Flashdance is now at the RES, replacing Durkin's Claw which was packed up last night due to it not working since the Show started last week. I do feel sorry for philip Durkin as I know he's had lots of trouble with the Claw lately but it's fantastic news for Chants Amusements who will do well with the Flashdance. That alone is reason enough for me to try and get back to the RES next weekend. Are you still flying up Huss and Zamperla? I've got everything crossed for a possible meeting with you all as well as Princess and any other AAF members.

Its not Phillip Durkins Ride, Ben, its Allan Woodall's, wow thats really a blow, especially as the new wheel is taking away from Skymaster, that means he only has chaos and the wheel there and Chaos is where the now defunct Hurricane was its on its way out too, so my prediction for Skymaster is, that it will not be at Sydney for much longer, my bet is that the towers will become a hazard (not true, but they will need an excuse)so they will have to be pulled down, oh the intrigue, who needs Days of our lives, or I just have an active imagination.

I will try and upload some photos

I dont know why these ones are so small, these are the ones I wanted you all to see, well one of them was for Huss.

Thanks Zamperla for your help

hey princess, if you can email me the full size of rainbow, that would be a big help
ill private message u my addy

here are the photos of rainbow and raupen bahn.
funny to see mike whitney on rainbow, would love to see the segment





thanks to princess

Well blow me down with a feather, if it wasnt Ozshowkid on the news tonight, or it was his twin, well Oz was it you?

Great photos, any daytime photos of the new wheel?

Would love to see any photos of the Flashdance, even better would be a video of it running.

Cheers
Kiwi

no that wasn't OzShowKid, it was Keith Urban next to Nicole Kidman

pmsl,No really it was the georgeous Ozurbankid.

Kiwi I am going out again soon, I wont be abel to get the moving ones (cause I am techno phobic), so with the help of my friends I will get some daytime photos of the new wheel onto here asap and breakdance.

Great review Ben, and thanks for the photos Princess.

From all your posts, it looks like you guys are having a ball!!!

Cheers,

Jaffa23

Yeah that was me next to Nicole we been friends for a very long time, she worked our dodgems once, nah just kidding. Yeah that was me opperating space roller Princess have done for a while now, any autographs will be signed with a fee of $2.

Cheers OZshowkid

Typical, trying to make a buck out of your fame.

i got to the show on wednesday for a look around, got to ride the rainbow, it was a good ride, but not a fast enough fall for me, i think i still like our dominator better because it has a faster mothion, but rainbow was a very nice ride, also got on the ruepen bahn (spelling) im not great with spinning rides, and it seemed like a rough ride, it was pretty fast though and the cover that comes over adds a bit of excitment, from there it was to the flash dance, ive wanted to ride it for a while, my brother and i were rocking as hard as we could, but could make it hit the stops (he has made it happen before at melbourne show) it was anoth pretty fast ride, and alot smoother that the ruepen bahn, then to the hard rock, without a doubt the best travellng ride ever, i had a longer ride at melbourne, but i couldnt walk past it and not ride, theres nothing like a really smooth running fun ride.

i was dissapointed when i couldnt get on the power surge due to being to tall, but what can you do, also even though i wont get on the zipper again, when i walked past the zipper at the show the first time it seemed to be working fine, but about an hour later it had 4 carriages off it, does anyone know what happened, i left around 6pm and it still was not working.

i havent been to the easter show for well over 10years, i cant even remember what it was like, but it seems to be laid out very well with something happening at every turn.

i was very impressed with the kids section, the balloon race would be the stand out ride down there, followed by the rockin tug, and just from my observation i think whoever was on the goldmine coaster needed to be interacting with the riders more, i probably expected more from that ride for some reason at least some sought of backdrop.

all in all, i was very impressed by the show, and i hope to get back soon.

Goldmine coaster is a kiddies ride, it was given a little hype in here, due to Aussie having something to do with it and yes you are right, it could of done with some sort of back drop.

Zipper, carriages missing, not in a million years.

It has had some minor maintenance done, and is now back up and operating, just for you Princess.

(did you think you had gotten out of it?)

Great review!

I maybe heading out to the Show tomorrow so will check out Flashdance and Goldmine Coaster if I do. The weather has cleared up great and they're predicting 26 or 27, makes one wish for the return of Splash Canyon!

Has anyone been on the Power Surge yet? It looks and sounds cool and it goes for an awfully long time per ride cycle. Power Surge is popular in America, both in carnivals and parks including Astroland in New York City.