Today we went a little crazy and made plans to go to not one, but two, major theme parks. Since they were both on the small side and only a mile from each other and connected by a bus service, it IS possible to do it. But the fact that they are both only open until 5 makes it pretty tough. Plus the Australian ride capacity mindset works against you as well.
We headed to Dreamland first because they had fewer rides that interested us. We weren’t real sure what the unifying theme was for this park but there were sections associated with the American west, surf culture, Nickelodeon, Australian animals, and tigers. Upon entering we were greeted with a sign indicating that one of the roller coasters, the Tower of Terror, would not be running that day so that was a bummer. Scratching that, we headed to their second biggest coaster, Cyclone, which interestingly was moved to Dreamland from Luna Park Sydney.
Cyclone is a steel coaster that after several twists and turns, goes upside down twice for the big finish. The loading operation of only running one train, only using one side of the station for loading and unloading meant that the line for this moved pretty slow – even first thing in the morning. The ride itself was pretty rough and uneventful as well. Once was enough.
We then walked over to their motorcycle themed coaster which had cars that you rode in like a motorcycle. The restraint closed over your back as you hunched over the handlebars. It then launched the train into a series of high speed figure eights. It was a bit short but a lot of fun and was the best ride we rode at Dreamland. We debated on riding again but decided to continue riding other rides instead.
We also rode their family friendly coaster, Runaway Reptar which was tame although it had a few speedy bits. Then I rode (and Kirsten declined to ride) the Giant Drop which is attached to the side of the Tower of Terror and uses the same structure. The Giant Drop is one of the tallest freefall rides in the world and it hoists you up in a chair with your feet dangling to a height of 390 feet before letting you fall back to earth. At the bottom a set of powerful magnets bring you to a smooth stop. Yay technology! The view from the top was pretty incredible and once I brought myself to actually look around I could see the tall towers of Surfers Paradise along the coast off in the distance. The drop itself was a hoot and lasted a good long time.
I also wanted to try to get on the log ride but after standing in line for a bit and barely moving, we gave up and made a run through the Australian animal exhibits and saw the tigers doing tigerly things. We got to see a couple of cassowaries, dingoes, saltwater crocodiles (they are so freakin big), and wombats. Kirsten found a Tasmanian devil although I missed it. They also had a petting area for kangaroos. The one that I was scratching seemed pretty happy until some Japanese tourist came up and yanked his ears. I hope something bit him later. And if something hasn’t, I hope something will. The park was also overrun with ibis and little water dragons (lizards).
After that we left Dreamworld and caught the first bus over to Warner Brothers Movie World which is themed like a movie studio park such as Universal Studios. The rides here approach Disney in their thematic level with the notable exception of the Lethal Weapon roller coaster which was so brutal it may possibly be the worst I’ve ridden. Fortunately Kirsten did not ride because she has me to warn her of these things. I knew it would be rough but not that rough!
The other two big coasters were a lot more fun though. Scooby Doo’s Spooky Coaster was an indoor coaster that had a lot of great surprise drops and turns and may have been our favorite coaster of the trip. Superman Escape is a very high speed coaster that is themed to a subway system that becomes trapped underground due to an earthquake – the ride actually does have a long twisting tunnel at the beginning past subway stations that are collapsing around you. Finally you stop and Superman shoves you out of the ground and straight into the sky and then takes you on a short, but very speedy whirlwind tour of the front entrance of the park. Superman was Kirsten’s 100th coaster and her favorite part were the Pocket Police who made darn sure that there was absolutely nothing in your pockets (note: this is sarcasm - she was actually very cranky, annoyed, and swore to never ride it again). They had a person standing at the end of the line assigning seats and having everyone turn their pockets inside out out. Nothing may go on, not even if your pockets button, snap, zip, or weld shut, you cannot bring anything aboard, not even tissues or pocket lint.
After the coasters we also rode the Looney Tunes River Adventure which involves leaving Australia and going to Hollywood and then going back to Australia in the ride. It was tricky logic to follow but a fun ride with a little twisty slide at the end. The Road Runner Roller Coaster was their family friendly coaster which was very similar to the one at Dreamworld. The Wild West Falls, which was a very well done log ride with a huge drop out of a very tall Disney style mountain, and a float through a ghost town. The detailing on this ride was really well done, as was the detailing on the next ride, the Batman Adventure. This was a simulator style ride where we piloted hovercrafts and engaged in aerial battle with Batman and Batgirl against the Joker, Catwoman, and Mr. Freeze. The ride itself was standard fare but the preshows in Bruce Wayne’s library and down in the Batcave were very well done.
Finally we capped our day with two additional rides on Scooby Doo and Superman and took in the Shrek in 4D movie. Shrek was an excellent show and all the 3D and 4D effects (tactile effects such as spraying water, puffs of air, seat cushion buzzers, etc, to enhance the movie) were well done. All in all it was a very fun day and Movie World more than made up for Dreamworld’s disappointments.
After the park closed and we caught the long train ride back to Brisbane we decided to head to Verve again for dinner because it was so good and we didn’t feel like doing any additional walking around. They did not disappoint either.
Tomorrow we catch the early flight to Wellington, New Zealand where we have a rental car waiting. Yep, wrong side of the road driving for us. I’m nervous but that seems silly, right? I mean, just last week I was jumping off huge slippery rocks into a river potentially teeming with saltwater crocodiles. Driving on the left should be a cinch. Knock on wood. . . .
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