Sunday 23 June 2013

Top Ten Australian Rides

A recent post on the Theme Park Tourist blog has inspired me to do my Top Ten Australian theme park rides. We do have some amazing rides in Australia, and while they do not approach Disney/Universal on scale, I like to think we punch above our weight.

So here we go, my Top Ten Australian rides:

10. The Cyclone
A tough choice for the final position, but I had to go for a classic, The Cyclone. Dreamworld purchases it from Lunar Park Sydney in 2001, and during it's 2 minute journey has a reverse sidewinder and a vertical loop. It is starting to get on in years, but it still provides grrat thrills.

9. Wild West Falls
Hands down the best water ride in the country, WWF is a long meandering cowboy story with a thrilling and soaking conclusion.

8. Jet Rescue
A motorbike coaster themed to a jet ski rescue of an injured seal. Theming and thrills with a little bit of heart. This is the best ride at Sea World, a park focused on marine conservation.

7. The Claw
So theming isn't always done well in Australia, and Dreamworld's The Claw is a great example of that. This ride is themed to a giant red claw. This ride gets points for being unique in Australia and for great thrills. Plus being upside down 11 stories high.

6. Green Lantern Coaster
Movie World's brand new El Loco comic book themed almost car park coaster is an unquestionable hit. While the theming, beyond the queue, is not of the Movie World standard, the thrills are  undeniable. The steepest drop in the southern hemisphere and several inversions plus an iconic LED display and high capacity, means this coaster clearly wipes the floor with Dreamworld's Buzzsaw.

5. The Giant Drop
Once again theming is done away with for thrills, but when you have (or had up until last year) the tallest drop ride in the world, who cares. This one is truly for the brave. With drops on two sides of Dreamworld's gigantic Tower, you eiyher get beautiful views over the Gold Coast hinterland, or even better views to the amazing coast. You can see Surfer's from the top! And then you plummet back back to earth. I can vouch for riding day or night, both are beautiful and scary for different reasons.

4. Justice League Alien Invasion 3D The Ride
A dark ride! A pure stand alone dark ride. This shooter from Sally Corp is not Australia's first dark ride, but it is our only current one. Only Scooby and Superman which have dark ride elements compare. This is our first interactive shooter! And it is fun from start to finish. It's not perfect and the name is a total mess, but it is a wonderful addition to Movie World's line up.

3. Tower of Terror 2
Dreamworld's signature ride is also its best. A recent revamp has turned the car around so that you are now shot backwards out of the dark disco tube and then you climb up Dreamworld's iconic tower facing the ground. One of the tallest coasters in the world, although some question its status since it doesn't do a circuit,the Tower of Terror is a must do if you are visiting Dreamworld. I tell people that a ride on TOT2 goes like this, scary, fun, scary, fun, over. I only wish that the car got closer to the top of the tower. These days you are lucky to make it half way up.

2. Scooby Doo Spooky Coaster
My second choice might surprise a few people, at least my first choice shouldn't surprise anyone. Let me make a case for why Movie World's Scooby Doo Spooky Coaster should be number two. Firstly it is one of our only true family coasters, most of our coasters are thrill machines or kiddie coasters. Secondly, it has tonnes of theming set in a spooky castle from the rather awful Scooby Doo movie. It has an good dark ride sequence at the start and a short one at the end. It is our only fully enclosed coaster. Sure it's not the Rock'n Rollercoaster,  but critics that call it a wild mouse in a shed aren't really being fair to it. It has a vertical lift! It has a backwards drop and it has laser and smoke effects covering its wild mouse section. It is one ride I never miss when visiting Movie World. My only complaint is that they took out a great dark ride to make way for it. If only Gremlins could have lived in the same park as Scooby. Overall the Scooby Doo Spooky Coaster scores strongly for thrills, originality and theming.


1. Superman Escape
The only Australian coaster to make the top twenty of Mitch Hawker's Steel Coaster Poll (at #16) is without doubt the best ride in the country. It's not our tallest or fastest, but with great thrills and a perfectly matched theme it's very hard to beat. The internal of the ride is themed to a subway, when an earthquake hits. In the dark ride section you see walls collapse, flooding water pooring down and crashed cars. It looks dangerous until you hear Superman tell you he'll get you out of there fast. Superman fast. And boom your slow dark ride turns into an Intamin Accelerato. You are launched 0 to 100 km/ h in 2 seconds. You are quickly cresting the top hat and than whipping through this wonderful coaster layout. Superman brings you right back down to the ride gift shop, for a safe escape. The gift shop doesn't do much trade though, as all the riders have to leave their wallets in lockers before the ride. However, this is one of the best coasters I've ridden, and an easy choice as the best ride in Australia!

3 comments:

  1. Great post! I've got an idea here. Thanks for sharing this information. It will really help.

    Zion Canyon Horseback Rides

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  2. Thanks for sharing this information. It will really help. lol omg

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hope it did help! This post is quite old now - 4 years. The DC Rivals Hypercoaster would be the one that definitely would be added to that list in that time.

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