Tag: Giant Wheel

Enjoying the Skyline of Melbourne

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Melbourne Star

After the second night in Queenscliff, we wanted to go to the capital of Victoria and therefore had to drive around Port Philipp Bay to the other side. Since the short ferry connection to Sorrento is quite expensive, we decided to go via Geelong. Following the M1, we reached Melbourne after about 100 minutes and the first destination of our day; the Melbourne Star Ferris wheel.

Operated and manufactured by the Sanoyas Hishino Meisho Corporation, the Ferris wheel is located in the very modern Waterfront City shopping and entertainment district in the Melbourne Docklands. Located between the harbour and Melbourne’s city centre, the 120m high wheel offers a unique view of the metropolis’ skyline and infrastructure.

Melbourne

Although the visit to the Melbourne Star was a rather spontaneous idea, it offered us an extremely impressive first view of the city of 4.3 million inhabitants, which we wanted to take a closer look at in the afternoon. Freshly stocked up with the first souvenirs, we went to our motel. We stayed at the Crest on Park in St. Kilda, so we could reach many destinations on foot. But the tram also ran right past our hotel, so that we could get to the city centre quite quickly.

For Aris, Albert Park was especially important, and we immediately set our sights on it. As a Formula 1 fan, he always wanted to visit the famous Albert Park Circuit. It’s a bit funny to be allowed to walk or drive freely on parts of the track, because a large part of it is just a normal street. The quietness of the pit lane naturally makes it seem like a foreign body within the sports park. Due to its location within the city and the truly impressive skyline, which is best observed from the shore of the central lake, it must be a very special event to be in Melbourne during the Grand Prix.

Passing the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre and the South Melbourne Football Club, we took the tram towards the city centre. Here we first had a look at Chinatown, which was founded in 1850 with the start of the gold rush in Australia. This makes Melbourne’s Chinatown one of the oldest in the world.

On Exhibition Street we came across the next evening’s destination, the Comedy Theatre. After we had eaten something in Chinatown, we moved on through the city centre. After a stop at the impressive Myer department stores’, we headed towards St. Paul’s Cathedral, which we could only admire from the outside. At the neighbouring Flinders Street station, we took the tram back to the hotel.

Pictures Melbourne and Melbourne Star

 

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Click here for the next report of the Hell Yeah, Schabelteah! Tour

Hell Yeah, Schnabelteah Day 6 to 8 / Victoria

My failure on Galveston Island

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I left SeaWorld San Antonio after seeing their One Ocean show, so that I could visit the not so historic Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier. I should have informed myself about the opening times before I left the park, as the Pleasure Pier was already closed when I arrived in Galveston. Even if the park would have been opened, I would not have the chance to ride their Iron Shark roller coaster, as the weather on the Gulf of Mexico was quite stormy. Despite that, I would have even avoided a very stupid and viscous traffic jam on my way from San Antonio to Houston, if I stayed at SeaWorld for longer.

Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Beach

Having absolutely failed, I really enjoyed my stay at the Country Inn and Suites Galveston Beach. That was a very nice hotel, even though the breakfast was as bad as every other hotel/motel I have visited on my tour.

Click here for the next report of the Texas Round-Up Tour

Texas Round-Up Day 4

Zipper-Dee-Doo-Dah in Cleveland

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As I’m currently in Ohio for business, I took the chance to visit the I-X Indoor Amusement Park in Cleveland this Saturday.  Since 30 years, the fair takes place in the International Exposition Center (short I-X Center). The name Amusement Park fits in very well thanks to the one-time admission fee and the additional show program. Nonetheless, the I-X Indoor Amusement Park is a typical American funfair. The highlight of the event is the weather independence of the fair and the interaction of many rides with the hall’s ceiling.

Most rides come from the Baker Bros. Amusement Company. Rockwell Amusements, Swika’s Amusements and Reithoffer Shows each provide a roller coaster. In total, the funfair hosts six roller coasters, three of them for children. However, they were not my reason of visiting. I wanted to finally ride a Zipper.

Like the Tilt-a-Whirl and Sizzler, the classic from Chance Rides is indispensable in any US funfair – the oval with the pulleys at both ends has been sold a good 200 times since 1968. And even in Europe you could find a Zipper in the past; on the downside they are very rare.

The ride itself resembles the one on a top spin: it rocks, swings and sometimes wildly rolls over. Only a nacelle brake does not exist; you leave everything to chance. The speeds during the journey are usually constant: The main arm rotates at seven revolutions per minute, while the steel cables make at least four revolutions. At the turning points, a short acceleration kick follows every time, which – with a bit of luck – puts the gondolas into a proper rotation. Since you are only secured by a comfortable lap bar, holding onto the handrails is definitely a good thing.

The ride in the narrow cages is definitely not for tall people. With shoe size 11 you also have problems placing your feet properly. People with a weak stomach will quickly reach their limits through the whole swinging thing – especially towards the end of the journey. The zipper itself, however, is a masterpiece of engineering of the late 1960s. Even before the great looping fever of the 70s, Chance Rides turned the fairground world overhead. Unluckily, our ride on the Zipper was somehow tame. In the end, we rocked more than we did anything else.

Luckily, there are plenty of other options at the Indoor Amusement Park, but due to the crowd, we concentrated on the Fabbri Kamikaze. This Italian ride offers some longer head-over stays at the top of the ride – in spite of the over the shoulder restraints – and wonderful hang time during the fast looping sequences. You basically lift off from your seat, whilst the stations drive throughs you will be pressed neatly into your seat. What a machine!

In addition to the small Zamperla Spinning Coaster Wild Mouse and the little Pinfari Wild Cat next door, the roller coaster G-Force turn out to be one hell of an adrenaline machine. This small Wing-Coaster-Butterfly from A.R.M. Rides is a lot of fun in a rather small package. After having taken a seat in the 16-passenger train, it raises leisurely up a way too steep straight. Arrived at the top, the train then latches out quickly. In the next second, you fall very fast to the ground. The transition between the much too steep lift and the ascending straight after is the only highlight, as the name of the rollercoaster proves itself. After experiencing the G-Force on your own body, the train swings back and forth and fastly comes to a stop again. If ever Sunkid Heege would produce such a ride 😀 .

The I-X Indoor Amusement Park in Cleveland is a pretty cool funfair. The choice of rides is quite balanced and offers something for every taste. On our visiting day, the indoor amusement park was pretty crowded, but the weather outside was also a mess all day. If it is a bit emptier you can definitely have a lot of fun here, I really liked the fair itself. The mood was great and the gimmick with the hall’s ceiling basically upgrades every ride to a maximum.

 

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Ohio