Water Coaster

This was the bad boys’ first trick, But the second follows quick

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Efteling’s Max + Moritz

Every now and then, a roller coaster that you have grown fond of has to say goodbye. After 34 years of operation, this happened to the roller coaster Bob – one of the rare Swiss Bob coasters of the manufacturer Intamin. The end of the coaster was very predictable, after all it was one of the few roller coasters allowed for smaller children – but due to its low capacity it could not compensate for this, so there was always a longer queue. Since Efteling also became more and more popular, something new was needed. Probably the most family-friendly roller coaster on the market for decades has been the Powered Coaster from Mack Rides. If you double the number of trains, you also get a very high capacity, which leads to additional fun by using two lanes. The result was the roller coaster duo Max + Moritz.

Typical for the theme park Efteling, this roller coaster can also show a very affectionate design. Here, the two rascals from the well-known story by Wilhelm Busch try out their self-built ride gear, which leads to some chaos.

The ride on Max

The ride with Max (the blue lane) begins with a small hill on which we gain some momentum. Close to the ground, we now drive through a few alternating right and left turns, and at the same time we gain a little height in the final right turn. Now we cross Moritz’s track once and spiral in a tight helix towards the ground. In the process we meet Moritz. The train now leads us with momentum through a right turn and a turn to the left before we gain height in a helix. A short turn to the left and a tight right turn later we enter the station building. Here we meet Moritz and start the second lap.

The ride on Moritz

Moritz (on the green lane), meanwhile, is well on his way and so we immediately enter a wide left turn. In two swerves we approach the ground gradually, whereupon we immediately dissipate our energy again in an outward spiral. Above Max’s lane we now take a left turn. Here we meet our brother. After a ground-level turn to the right, we gain altitude within a tight helix once again. Another right turn and a left turn follow before we approach the station on a longer straight and slowly lose speed.

Conclusion Max + Moritz

Max + Moritz are clearly excellent roller coasters for smaller children. In this respect, there is absolutely nothing to criticise. However, I personally find it a great pity that you only really meet in two places during the course of the ride. If both tracks went in the same direction, the roller coaster would definitely be a bit more exciting. I also don’t consider either roller coaster to be a dignified replacement for the old bobsled ride, but only a functional one. Admittedly, the colourful ride with its great design and terrific soundtrack fits much better into Efteling than Bob ever did; however, my conclusion is clear: children will have a lot of fun on both rides, adults might ride them once or twice.

Pictures Efteling

 

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Efteling

Wet and wild fun on the Gold Coast

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History of the water park Wet ‘n’ Wild

Wet ’n Wild is probably the best-known brand for water parks worldwide. The concept was developed by George Millay, who previously established the SeaWorld marine mammal parks. Over time, there were eight water parks sharing the same ideas with the most prominent one being in Orlando. Most of the parks were sold and there are currently just three parks left in operation. Wet ’n’ Wild on the other hand is a popular brand of water parks by Village Roadshow Theme Parks, who licenced the Wet ’n Wild name.

Wet ’n’ Wild Gold Coast originally started as Cade’s County by the Herringe Group of Companies in 1984. Back in the days it was a state-of-the-art water park and the biggest one of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere consisting of a wave pool, a kamikaze slide and a bunch of mat and body slides. Nowadays, it is pretty clear that Wet ’n’ Wild Gold Coast was heavily influenced by its namesake sharing most of the attractions once featured in Orlando.

Tour of the park

Surfrider

One attraction which is rather unique to the park is the Intamin half pipe roller coaster Surfrider. This LSM coaster features two revolving gondolas which are placed onto an oversized surfboard. Due to the small launches the ride more and more increases in height and the spinning just gets wilder and wilder. At the highest point you feel a great amount of airtime and, depending on your position, some very impressive views. This ride is fun and should not be missed when visiting the Gold Coast. But caution, the floor up to the ride’s platform can get very hot.

H2O Zone

Mach 5 and Black Hole

In the area behind the Surfrider, there were only two of the four slide towers operational. The most impressive of these was the Mach 5 slide tower, which just got demolished to be replaced by a similar tower featuring two water coasters, two raft slides and a bodyslide racer. The Mach 5 had two large scale mat slides and some rather impressive looking kamikaze slides. It was a shame that I could not give it a try, as I was nearly one year too late for that. The neighbouring Black Hole tower was currently scheduled for maintenance, so we had to give the nice-looking tube slides with all its tight curves and jumps a miss.

Tornado and Kamikaze

The two slide towers which were open on the day of our visit in the Extreme H2O Zone were the Tornado and Kamikaze slide towers. Where the Tornado provides its usual large scale funnel slide experience, the Kamikaze is a rather oddly named Boomerang slide. Both slides are basically sharing the same experience, yet the Kamikaze is slightly steeper and provides a longer time swinging up and down in the slide’s main element. Both slides are great fun!

Calypso Springs and Mammoth Falls

Past the closed Whirlpool Springs and the still closed lazy river Calypso Springs, we now head towards the front section of the park. To the left we find the large wave pool, a flow rider, a sky coaster and the Mammoth Falls water slides. The two family raft slides provides a rather tame experience with no real surprises along its serpentine style path.

River Rapids and Constrictor

To the right there is the kid’s area Wet ’n’ Wild Junior, as well as a large selection of water slides. On an artificial mountain you can find the four River Rapids bodyslides offering two enclosed turbo slides winding down a curvy path and two open slides featuring a series of tight curves and great jumps. The nearby raft slide Constrictor is the first installation of a constrictor slide by whitewater featuring very tight helices along its path. Unfortunately, it was the best visited slide at Wet ’n’ Wild Gold Coast and after some minutes not moving forward in the queue, we had to give it a miss.

Super 8 Aqua Racer and AquaLoop

A slide we sure did not wanted to miss is the mat racer Super 8 Aqua Racer. This kind of slide is always a great experience, and it did not disappoint! I even won the race 😊. Enthusiastic, I would have given the nearby AquaLoop slides a try, but they were not opened, even through their maintenance was scheduled to end on the day before.

Pictures Wet ‘n’ Wild

Conclusion Wet ‘n’ Wild

As the number of attractions was extremely limited during my visit, Village Roadshow Theme Parks once again did not provide a great experience. I seriously cannot understand how on earth you can not manage to open your attractions on time after a rather long maintenance period. If you cannot plan it well, then increase your timing or hire more people. This is simply not very professional.

Wet ’n’ Wild Gold Coast surely offers a great selection of water slides and their Surfrider roller coaster is great fun, yet I would have enjoyed the park far more, if all their slides would have been open. Combined with a visit to Sea World or the Warner Bros. Movie World, you can have a great day off – just make sure you don’t visit the parks during the low season.

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

Hell Yeah, Schnabelteah Day 15 to 19 / Wet 'n' Wild Gold Coast

Sea World, not SeaWorld

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History of the Sea Mammal Amusement Park Sea World

The origins of Sea World go back to the year 1958 when the Surfers Paradise Sky Gardens opened on the south bank of the Nerang River in Carrara. The park by Keith Williams became famous for its water ski shows. In 1971 the park relocated to its current site on the Southport Spit as Ski Land. With the additions of dolphin shows and other attractions the park was renamed to Sea World a year later. It is important to know, that Sea World has nothing to do with the American theme park chain SeaWorld, which currently operates three parks under their SeaWorld brand. Yet, it is no surprise that there was plenty of skirmish over trademarks during the past decades.

In 1984, the park was sold to Pivot Leisure. During the following years, the park was expanded into a resort. Together with Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow, Pivot Leisure developed and opened the nearby Warner Bros. Movie World in 1991 and purchased the Wet ‘n’ Wild water park next door. In 1993 the Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow jointly acquired Pivot Leisure’s interest. In 2006 Village Roadshow took full ownership of the group which led to the Village Roadshow Theme Parks.

Tour of the Park

Penguin Encounter and Sea Jellies Illuminated

After entering the park, you will find yourself directly in front of a large lake. The only available path leads us to the left and soon we stand in front of the Penguin Encounter. This indoor animal enclosure reminded me a lot of the ones to be found at the SeaWorld parks and should therefore not to be missed.

The next-door Sea Jellies Illuminated is also a very interesting exhibition, as you can see Jelly Fish in a totally different light. Albeit they are still very mysterious creatures, the different light conditions give them a very fascinating appeal.

Monorail

Till the completion of the New Atlantis themed area in 2022, the park’s Monorail got suspended. It would have been nice to take a tour on Sea World’s iconic mode of transport. Right behind the station there is a helipad. Here, you can take a trip with the park’s helicopter fleet for a rather high upcharge.

Seal Guardians

As the Seal Guardians show was to start soon, we headed directly into the large theatre. Like most seal shows around the globe, the show is very much slapstick based. The story is based on the Seal Guardians and their mission to keep the oceans clean, but of course there an evil company which wants to see them tear down SeaLab1. At the end, everything is fine, everybody had a good laugh and a person from the audience got soaked.

Nickelodeon Land

Right next door to the theatre is Nickelodeon Land. In Sea World the famous children’s network presents a bunch of rides themed to Spongebob Squarepants, Dora the Explorer and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The most noticeable rides are Dora’s Fiesta Carousel, the Rockin’ Tug Bikini Bottom Crosstown Express, the teacups Patrick’s Jellyfish Frenzy, as well as the small family coaster Spongebob’s Boating School Blast – a standard family gravity coaster by Zamperla.

Jet Rescue

Right next to the former location of the Sea Viper roller coaster – Australia’s first looping coaster – there is the Intamin family launch coaster Jet Rescue. One year after Dreamworld opened Mick Doohan’s Motocoaster, Sea World opened Australia’s first double launch coaster featuring a very dense layout full of tight curves.

The ride starts with a launch to 60 kph and immediately settles into 270° righthand curve, which is completed extremely close to the ground. This is followed by a short camelback over the launch track that has just been passed. A slight turn to the left brings us into a small S-curve combination, which ends in the second launch section.

Here, we accelerate to our maximum speed of 70 kph. This is once again followed by a heavily inclined curve. In an alternating rhythm, we now race through a series of left and right turns, whereby we always keep ourselves close to the ground. After crossing the track a second time, we soon hit the brakes and return to the station.

Jet Rescue is a very fun coaster. Due to its formerly limited space, the ride squeezes a lot of action into a very small footprint. The tight and highly inclined curves and the overall high pacing throughout the layout make this coaster a very remarkable family ride and one of the best roller coasters in Australia.

Storm Coaster

Storm Coaster is the replacement of an old time favourite: The Bermuda Triangle. The large indoor flume ride featured two major drops and an extra-terrestrial story line which still can be experienced at its replica at Movie Park Germany – the former Warner Bros. Movie World Germany. The ride is nowadays called Area51. Storm Coaster reuses the Bermuda Triangle’s show building for the final splash down and for its station.

Once boarded, the ride starts with a small passage through the channel without any hint of theming. When reaching the end of the hall, we also reach the ride’s lift hill. Shortly after, we find ourselves at a height of 28m before plunging down a small curvy dip into the next block brake. The following steep curve downhill shot is the highlight of the ride and rushing through the valley without any mayor sideways bump a relief to everybody who ever experienced Poseidon at Europa Park. Soon after we reach the second block brake at a lofty height. Now, we drop down under the main path leading to the attraction before we take a hill and disappear into the show building. Here, we hit the water and get reasonable wet. A bit of theming to the right and left of the route makes the return to the station entertaining.

Storm Coaster is a very fun water coaster by Mack Rides. The show building features a great theming and the placement of the ride within the park was very well done. It just looks like a very huge coaster. Unfortunately, the ride is a bit spare on its theming during the ride especially when you compare it to the ride which was previously housed at this location.

Ray Reef, Polar Bear Shores and Shark Bay

Past the remnants of the Viking’s Revenge Flume Ride and the 3D Cinema which until recently was showing the Spongebob Squarepants 3D movie, we now make our way to some of the larger animal enclosures. The first one on our way is the large Ray Reef petting pool, where you can feed the rays for an upcharge.

Behind it there is Polar Bear Shores – the only polar bear enclosure in Australia. For a park like Sea World, such an enclosure should be a no-go as it does not house a marine mammal or related animal; however, it has been in existence since 2000 and you really don’t have to think twice to know that the Gold Coast’s subtropical climate is not suitable for housing polar bears.

Probably the best attraction at Sea World is Shark Bay. This large-scale area has everything you would want to see in an aquarium, and there are so many opportunities to catch a glimpse of the goings-on below sea level. Here, you can easily spend most of your time at Sea World and if you really want it or have a lot of spare money, there are many upcharge experiences to enjoy.

Castaway Bay

The area Castaway Bay consists of the upcharge high ropes course Castaway Bay Sky Climb, the play structure Castaway Bay Sky Fortress and the splash battle Castaway Bay Battle Boats. Especially, the last-mentioned attraction is a lot of fun on a typical day on the Gold Coast, as it allows you to cool down in a very efficient and drenching way.

Affinity Dolphin

The main attraction of Sea World is the dolphin presentation at the Affinity Stadium. It is a bit like a glimpse to the past, as dolphin presentation are not featured anymore in most parts of the Western world. It would be wrong by me to criticize this kind of shows, as I always enjoyed them. Yet, as we missed the first presentation, we decided not to wait for the second one in the afternoon.

Thunder Lake Stunt Show

After a view on the nearby Seal Harbour area, we headed back to the entrance area of the park for the Thunder Lake Stunt Show. The show features a competition between the Sun State All Stars (the good ones) and the Bay City River Rats (the bad ones) in wakeboarding, Freestyle BMX and water-skiing. If you ignore the trivial story with all its banter, the Thunder Lake Stunt Show is well worth seeing. Especially the fire-breathing waterborne lorry will remain in your memory. As many others, we left the park directly after the show.

Pictures Sea World

Conclusion Sea World

Overall, we had a great day at Sea World. Albeit the park is rather limited in size, it offers some very interesting animal enclosures and a bunch of great attractions. However, the park can be criticised for its high number of upcharge attractions and some of its animal enclosures. With marine mammal parks in general losing more and more acceptance by the public, it will be interesting to see how Sea World will develop in the future.

 

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

Hell Yeah, Schnabelteah Day 15 to 19 / Sea World