Tail Spin @ Dreamworld

In late September Dreamworld opened their brand new thrill ride, Tail Spin. The ride, a Gerstlauer Sky Fly replaced the aged Reef Diver flat at the end of the Ocean Parade. The ride itself stands 22 metres tall, and has a throughput of 240-360 riders per hour.


Overall, the ride is a step up from the unpopular Reef Diver, without question. However it does show a disturbing trend in Australia's largest theme park. That is the tendency to favour "cheap" flats over any other type of ride. While I am a fan of flats in general, I think Dreamworld has now reached the maximum number of flats that a park can sustain without starting to be criticized for it.


But why wait, when I can rant about it now!


Don't get me wrong, Dreamworld has some great flats. I am a huge fan of The Claw, I think it is one of the best rides in the park. However, when your last 4 additions are flats (well, Buzzsaw is a coaster, but it's a very flat-like coaster) some questions have to be asked. As a consumer, it is hard to see why they have added two flying flats (Pandamonium and Tail Spin) in a row. I'm sure there will be some that haven't even realised they are different rides.


Enthusiasts tend to champion coasters over flats. Dreamworld has 5 coaster. However, Buzzsaw, is a single loop coaster. Tower of Terror (as good as it is) is just a straight up and back. Mick Doohan's Motocoaster is wildly unpopular, mainly because it is to big for kids, and a bit lame for the tweens. That just leaves a very good kiddy coaster, and Cyclone as the only true full circuit coasters.


What about dark rides? Realistically Dreamworld has one, the Big Red Car Ride in Wiggles World. I don't know a grown person who's ridden it without a toddler.


Dreamworld had one amazing Drop tower in the Giant Drop, so it doesn't need to go there again.


They have a raft ride, and an aged flume ride. They lack any kind of interactive ride (although they do have a walk through). They do have a drive yourself Model-T Ford ride, but I'd be surprised if many people even knew that was still there.


In terms of flats, they have 5 majors, and a number (rough count of 6 or 7) kids flats. What will Dreamworld put in next? If it's a flat, I'm going to scream.