Water slide

The Final Countdown

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History of the Theme Park Dreamworld

In 1974, John Longhurst bought 85 hectares of land to put his dream of building a theme park into practice. With a few attractions, Dreamworld opened to the public on December 15, 1981. A year later, the first expansion led to the world’s longest steel double loop rollercoaster, the Thunderbolt. With time, the park more and more expanded. In 1989 the park was sold to Bruce Jenkins’ Dreamco, yet due to Dreamco’s financial trouble in 1990, Ernst & Young, Receivers and Managers were appointed by the Mortgagee, IOOF Friendly Society, to take control. In 1994, Dreamworld successfully ended its liquidation. In 1995 the Park was sold to Singaporean Businessman and investor Mr Kua Phek Long. One of his first investments then put Dreamworld on everybody’s lips, as the fastest and tallest coaster was coming to the Gold Coast in 1997: the Tower of Terror. Two years later, Dreamworld was acquired by the Macquarie Leisure Trust, now Ardent Leisure Group.

Tour of the park

Sky Voyager

If you walk through the Disney-esque Entrance building, you find yourself directly in front of the Dreamworld globe. On both sides of the plaza, you can find buildings with typical Australian architecture, yet also a very futuristic looking building, which is home to Australia’s first flying theatre: Sky Voyager.

The large-scale motion simulator by Brogent Technologies features a very impressive flight along several famous Australian landscapes. We take off at the Gold Coast, have a look at the Wallaman Falls, follow the Tully River, fly over the Lancelin Sand Dunes, have a look at the Twelve Apostels from the seaside and experience a firework at the Sydney Harbour – the scenes are all loosely connected, yet the transition is always fluent, which gives you an overall coherent experience. Overall, Sky Voyager is one of the best Flying Theatre, I’ve experiences so far.

Buzzsaw

Right next to it, the roller coaster Buzzsaw was set at a very prominent position right at the edge of the park and very close to the entrance of Dreamworld. The ride itself was a Maurer Skyloop XT150, as you can still find them at several theme parks along the globe. It was the third SkyLoop, I’ve tried and yet I was still not very impressed with it. The extreme hangtime at a height of 46m, the descending heartline roll and the rush towards the ground creates a great experience, which is best when only experienced once. Buzzsaw was by no means a popular ride, so it isn’t a surprise that Dreamworld closed the ride for good after just 10 years of operation at the end of August 2021.

Giant Drop

Passing along the future site of the Steel Taipan roller coaster and former site of the Thunder River Rapids Ride, which had to be closed after a fatal accident where a boat was flipped on the ride’s lift, we now have a look on one of the main attractions at Dreamland: The Giant Drop.

For a very long time, there was no drop tower being taller than the Giant Drop and up to this date it is still in the top three just behind Lex Luthor’s Drop of Doom (122m, 2012) at Six Flags Magic Mountain and Zoomanjaro: Drop of Doom (126m, 2014) at Six Flags Great Adventure. All rides were attached to the support structure of a roller coaster made by Intamin. Yet, the Giant Drop was first and with a drop height of 115m it is not particularly lower.

Just one year after the inauguration of the world’s fastest and tallest coaster Tower of Terror, the 119m tall Dreamworld Tower received its second and final attraction when two drop lanes were installed to both sides of the roller coaster’s track. To maximise the ride’s capacity, both lanes feature a gondola for eight people each.

After leaving the heavily themed queue, we soon take place in the gondola to the front. After checking the restraints, we soon start our journey to the top of the tower. During our ascent, a vehicle from the Tower of Terror coaster gets the tower into vibration whilst shooting towards us. With a great view onto the surroundings, we then spend some time at the top before the Giant Drop. The hook releases the car, and we drop towards the ground accelerating to a max speed of 135 km/h before we hit the brakes and the awesome ride comes to an end.

Rocky Hollow Log Ride and the Dreamworld Corroboree

Past the now closed log flume Rocky Hollow Log Ride, which was not operating on my day of visit, we now enter Dreamworld Corroboree. This area is home to the Vintage Car Adventure ride, as well as a bunch of animal enclosures. Here, we can have a look to native Australian animals like dingoes, koalas, and kangaroos. Interestingly, the park is famous for its koala breeding programme. It is rather amusing to see how many Asian travel groups are guided into this part of the park only to take some pictures of them holding a koala.

ABC Rids World

Through the toddler area ABC Kids World, where the small trackless dark ride Big Red Car featuring the Australian children’s music group The Wiggles is located, we now make our way towards the first installation of the family launch coaster by Intamin is located.

Mick Doohan’s Motocoaster

Similar to the Motorbike Coaster by Vekoma, Mick Doohan’s Motocoaster features a seating position which resembles the one on a 500cc racing bike. In comparison, the train design is slightly more complex, which makes the boarding a bit harder. Here, you have to climb onto your seat first, move your upper body under the harness, pull the front part of the bike towards you (which also locks your legs in place) and then the harness will be automatically moved into position. As only the bike’s side panel fixes your legs from any sideways movement, a rough surface keeps it from moving in any other direction, which makes the ride a rather uncomfortable one. But you could ride in a sidecar, which features a more traditional ride experience located in the back two rows of a train. Due to its lower high restriction, these are a great way to experience the ride with your kids.

After boarding is completed and everything is clear, the ride immediately starts with its launch. After reaching the ride’s top speed of 72 kph, we now enter an ascending wide curve which leads us to the highest point of the ride reaching 7m. A wide curve to the left gets us a bit closer to the ground and soon we race over a small bunny-hop. After another 270° curve close to the ground, we change direction and climb a bit upwards in a helix. This is then followed by a wide curve to the left, which features a small dip in the middle. We then make our way towards the front of the ride in a bunch of alternating curves. After a short hop, we then hit the brakes. A short turnover then leads up to the station’s exit position.

Mick Doohan’s Motocoaster could be a great ride if the bikes would be slightly more comfortable. The fast-paced layout loses a bit of momentum towards the end of the ride, yet it has a ton of great curves which makes up for that, so that in an overall rating the ride features an okay experience.

The Claw and Tailspin

The Claw on the other hand is a superb ride. The monstrous looking pendulum ride by Intamin features a very high acceleration which in return led to a very fast-paced experience with tons of airtime and a lot of pressure. This Gyro Swing is brilliant!

Right next to The Claw, we can find the entrance to Tailspin – a ride where the riders can actively control how intense they want their experience to be. As a daredevil myself, I like to have tons of rollovers on a Gerstlauer Sky Fly – something, which was very easy to achieve back in the past, when the first models came up. Tailspin on the other hand is a rather new model and a rollover therefore isn’t as easy to initiate, yet still manageable; once you did the first one and hold your wings in position it is easy to do a lot more in a row.

HotWheels Sidewinder

Past the closed Disk’o Coaster Shockwave, we now make our way to Dreamworld’s large Looping Coaster: HotWheels Sidewinder. The ride was recently redeveloped to the Gold Coaster and got a surfing theme – a very fitting move if you ask me.

The Arrow Coaster previously known as the Big Dipper at Milton Points Luna Park in Sydney moved to Dreamworld at the end of the 2001 season. As the ride was tailored to fit into a very specific footprint at Luna Park, which is why the station is located high above the ground, a new entrance and exit path had to be designed to bring the guest to and from the ride. Unfortunately, Dreamland has chosen to install a large spiralling ramp, which takes ages to climb. Once at the top, we cross a small bridge and wait until the previous guests have left the station and the doors open for boarding.

The ride starts with a small dip out of the station. In a left-hand turn, we rapidly approach the ride’s lift hill. Arrived at a height of 40m, we immediately take another small dip and a turnaround, before we drop down. With full throttle, we now race into a large turn, which takes us high above the ground. After another drop, we then take a long turn to the left before we make our way into the waterpark Whitewater World. Here we rush through a long left-hand curve close to the ground before we initiate the first inversion of the ride: a sidewinder. Here, we first turn to the left while rotating around our axis before we plunge down towards the ground in a half loop. This is followed by a full vertical loop. Soon after, we take a large hill, race over a long straight into a turnaround and come to a stop in the ride’s station.

The HotWheels Sidewinder is a very nice coaster, which reminds me a bit of a mine train. The ride has a very fun pacing, albeit the layout is a bit off due to its main elements being placed at the end of the ride. Therefore, the HotWheels Sidewinder is more about speed and acceleration than it is about inversions and honestly, I liked that a lot. Surplus, the ride has a great smoothness to it, which makes it a good ride for tons of re-rides.

DreamWorks Experience

The DreamWorks Experience is a large themed area with dedicated areas for three of the studio’s most popular films: Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar and Shrek! While Shrek’s Faire Faire away is home to many of the park’s children rides, the two other areas all feature one of Dreamworld’s mayor attractions. Unfortunately, the suspended family coaster Escape from Madagascar in the Madagaskar Madness area was down for maintenance.

Pandamonium

Next to the Skadoosh Bumper Cars, you can find in Kung Fu Panda Land of Awesomeness the Zamperla Air Race Pandamonium. The popular ride comes in two experiences: soft-style and hard-style. While the soft-style cycle just rocks a bit sideways without going upside down, the hard-style run cycle is pure madness! I have been on quite a lot of these rides before, but Pandamonium is way faster than most of them and features far more rollovers. I had a blast!

Tiger Island

We now could get to the next ride via the adjacent souvenir shop, but we chose to have a look onto Tiger Island before. This large area is home to two animal enclosures, as well as a large area used for the Tiger presentation. You can also take a picture with you and a tiger over here.

Tower of Terror II

When I planned my Australian road trip, I had no clue that Tower of Terror II will close. Once the announcement was made by the park, I was very happy that the final day of operation would be during our planned trip to the Gold Coast, so that I did not even have to reschedule the entire trip to ride Intamin’s first opened launch coaster for the first and last time.

When the Tower of Terror opened in 1997, it was the tallest and fastest ride on earth. Together with Superman: Escape from Krypton at Six Flags Magic Mountain, the ride held the speed record till Dodonpa at Fuji-Q Highland opened to the public in 2001 and the height record until Top Thrill Dragster opened at Cedar Point back in 2003. In 2010, the Tower of Terror received an overhaul consisting of a new theme and new trains. It was time to Face Gravity, Face First on the Tower of Terror II.

After passing through the ride’s iconic skull entrance and the futuristic queue, I boarded the ride for the first time on November 2nd, one day before the ride’s closure. Unfortunately, the ride was down for most of the day of our visit. I returned for the last day of operation for several re-rides, as well as one of the last rides being held on that day. It was an amazing experience to walk through the skull and listen to Europe’s Final Countdown while doing so.  Overall, the excitement of the enthusiasts to catch the final Escape Pod was contagious.

The ride itself was an exciting experience. Once the vehicle was cleared, the lights of the boarding area are turned down and a countdown sets in. The light effect in the tunnel starts to go faster and faster and all the sudden the vehicle starts accelerating. For the next seven seconds, we accelerate to the max speed before we start to climb the tower. Now in a vertical position, the car loses more and more of its momentum while we are experiencing some of the finest airtime on a coaster. For several seconds, we now face gravity before plunging down again. We then race back into the tunnel, where we are smoothly reducing our speed and come to a halt in the station. After disembarking the ride, we then walk through a small corridor and take a lift ride into the shop.

Tower of Terror II was a great coaster! The ride was all about the launch, which was perfectly set in place by the lightning effects and noise in the tunnel. It just felt super-fast for a very long time. Once on the tower, the ride surprised everyone by its long-during airtime and the views towards the ground. I was glad, that I had the chance to experience such an iconic coaster on its last days of operation. I just wish, I could do it again.

Pictures Dreamworld

Conclusion Dreamworld

Dreamworld is a very nice theme park with a very solid ride collection. You can easily spend a full day at the park and the adjacent water park Whitewater World. Nevertheless, inform yourself in advance which rides will be closed on the day of your visit, as unfortunately the park’s line-up was reduced quite a bit during the past few years and closed attraction might not give you the best impression of the theme park. Having new attractions in the pipeline, I just hope that the current strategy of the Ardent Leisure Group will pay off.

 

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Dreamworld / Hell Yeah, Schnabelteah Day 15 to 19

Ihu’s Breakaway Adventure

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Aquatica San Antonio

Since I was relatively quickly done with the main park SeaWorld San Antonio, I went to the neighboring water park Aquatica San Antonio in the afternoon to bridge the time until the One Ocean show. Luckily, the combined entrance ticket was a bit cheaper than the regular entrance ticket for SeaWorld alone and the park was one of the few water parks in Texas that was actually open at Easter.

As early as in the entrance area of the park, opened in 2012, one notices that the atmosphere here is completely different from that of the park next door. Everything is colourful, beautifully designed and much more immersive. Right in front of one, the whole skyline spreads out and one straight gets the desire to climb one or the other slide tower and slide down one of the numerous slides.

Stingray Falls

Passing a big pool where numerous stingrays swim around, we immediately get to the first highlight of the park: Stingray Falls. The family raft slide offers a rather long slide over numerous curves and several smaller jumps, but is otherwise quite mild. After the obligatory passage through a flush of water and a water curtain, one then finds oneself in a small cave that is partly covered with acrylic glass. Here you have about 30s time to watch the rays above you before you reach the end of the slide. Thanks to this feature, Stingray Falls is a unique attraction and therefore you should definitely slide it once, although in my opinion the tunnel should be much longer.

Ihu’s Breakaway Falls

Just behind Stingray Falls are the three turbo slides of Ihu’s Breakaway Falls. While the blue and orange tubes have a drop start, the green tube offers a classic entrance followed by a very steep descent before it turns into a curve dominated slide, as with the other tubes. As always with very high water slides, the tension increases with every vertical meter. Here in the Aquatica San Antonio even the use of swimming trunks that are too tight is prohibited, you would probably be too fast. At some point you reach the top and are spoilt for choice between the three lanes.

While both drop start lanes immediately change into a left turn and can show a longer straight after a short right bend, the green slide starts unbelievably fast into the action with a quite high drop. This is followed by a powerful downward helix, which changes into another high drop at the final. Meanwhile, the other two lanes also start their final spurt and after another pressure-packed left turn elegantly leads you into the exit.

The three lanes of Ihu’s Breakaway Falls are all really good slides, with the green lane definitely being the wildest of the three. If you like turbo slides, you’ll get your money’s worth here, because Texas highest water slide is really nothing for wimps and/or water park newbies and therefore a real test of courage!

Loggerhead Lane

After so much adrenaline it is worth taking a look at the Lazy River Loggerhead Lane. On the beautifully arranged Lazy River with its numerous water effects one can drift wonderfully before suddenly finding oneself in an aviary and watching numerous tropical birds. What a wonderful fun!

Kiwi Curl and Woohoo Falls

Close by is the entrance to the Kiwi Curl and Woohoo Falls slides, with the two tire slides of Woohoo Falls being replaced by the blackhole body slides Tonga Twister in 2020. Kiwi Curl are two classic bodyslides with multiple turns and drops, while Woohoo Falls has a very wide open tube slide and a black hole. Both slides are quite easy to ride.

Big Surf Shores, Tassie’s Twisters and Hooroo Run

Past the wave pool Big Surf Shores we go to the double tube slides Tassie’s Twisters and Hooroo Run. While Tassie’s Twisters are two classic bowl slides, at the ends of which you can do a few laps in a funnel before continuing on to the final pool, Hooroo Run is characterized by its descents and dark passages. Here the red track is only serpentine, while the purple track features additional helices.

Walkabout Waters and Taumata Racer

Once across the game structure Walkabout Waters, where we refresh ourselves a little with the water from the huge overturning bucket, we go to the mat slide Taumata Racer. This six-lane slide not only has a huge capacity, but also offers a good opportunity to race against family and friends. The Taumata Racer is by no means a classic mat slide, because before the big shot starts, you first increase your speed in a powerful helix. Splendid!

Walhalla Wave

Now let’s get to the last big slide in the park and my personal highlight: Walhalla Wave. As I was travelling alone and a group of three happened to need another person to slide, I was quickly able to take a seat in one of the boats that hold up to four people.  After a small slide in airy heights, a tight helix is added immediately before the big drop into the Tornado Wave is initiated. In this wave, one rushes rapidly upwards before drifting sideways and racing down. After two fast swings along the walls of the slide, you are slowed down slowly before you dive into a tunnel and are led leisurely to the end of the slide.

The Walhalla Wave is an absolutely magnificent slide, which for me also serves as a symbol for Aquatica San Antonio.

Pictures

Conclusion

I was quite happy to have bought the combi-ticket, otherwise I would probably have been rather disappointed when leaving San Antonio. So the water park Aquatica San Antonio was my highlight of the day and one of the best water parks I have visited so far. There are some really good slides available and also the design of the park is very sublime, so I highly recommend a visit. Combining it with the main park right next door is also a good idea, as this way one can experience a lot of things throughout the day.

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Aquatica San Antonio / Texas Round-Up Day 4

The Turbo Slides of Poole

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Splashdown Poole

Water Park:Splashdown Poole (since 1990)
Address:Tower Park
BH12 4NY Poole
splashdownwaterparks.co.uk/poole/
Operated by:Lemur Leisure Ltd.

Splashdown PooleClose to the English coastal town of Bournemouth, in the Leisure Centre Tower Park near Poole is the Splashdown Poole water park. As one of the first attractions of the leisure centre built in 1989, the water park opened its doors in 1990 with a total of seven slides. Eight years later the Outside Screamer Tower with its three PPK Promoplast slides, for which the park is known in the slide community, was opened. More slides were added in 2002 and 2012. So far, no slide has left Splashdown Poole Water Park; however, there have been changes, more about this later.

By entering the bath, one is immediately surprised by its 90s charm. As one is right at the cash desk, it can happen that one has to wait in front of the bath even a little longer. At least that’s what happened in our group, when the chip bracelets refused to be activated and the poor cashier even went to the station of the unoccupied cash desk. Here we waited about 10 minutes before the bracelets could be handed over to us. In the changing area – which unfortunately has to be entered with street shoes, whereby one stands inevitably in a rather dirty broth – another little problem awaited us; because the lockers are unfortunately not opened with the bracelet but by key and require a pound coin as deposit. Actually, this is not a problem, but who really has coin money with him in a country where almost everything can be paid cashless? Thus, back to the cash desk and change some money. Shortly afterwards the fun could start.

Black Thunder and Baron’s Revenge

Once you enter the pool, you are immediately at the stairs to the Black Thunder black hole slide and the Baron’s Revenge turbo slide, as well as the Mississippi Drifter tyre slide. The Black Hole slide is interesting because it is only in summer a stand-alone slide and is used without tyres; in winter it is the second part of the Mississippi Drifter. There was always a long queue here right from the start, which is why I did not test it. The situation was completely different on the Baron’s Revenge slide, which drops a good five metres to the ground in a steep turn on just nine sliding metres. This is extremely steep and despite the plump run-out it is highly brilliant.

Mississippi Drifter and Grand Canyon

One level higher you will find the access to the Crazy River Slide Mississippi Drifter, in which you move from basin to basin over several shots, before following the Grand Canyon to the outside, where you immediately fly off the tire. In the outdoor area of the Splashdown Poole water park you can now let yourself drift under the English sun, although this summer it rarely got warmer than 25°C before another slide follows. In a dark helix you quickly increase your speed. Towards the end of this section several water curtains are waiting for the slider and you get a bit out of balance, which makes it quite difficult to stay on the ring in the landing pool. A marvellous fun! A further drop later follows the transition to the inner area and immediately the end of this rather funny slide.

Red River Roller and Zambezi Drop

On the right-hand side of the pool, as seen from the entrance from the changing room area, are the stairways to the other slides in the indoor area. The back stairs are reserved for the three body slides Red River Roller, Zambezi Drop and Colorado Coaster. While the Colorado Coaster always had people queuing up, the other slides always had a very fast turn. While the Red River Roller is rather tame and can’t show any highlights, the Turbo Slide Zambezi Drop convinces after the first very leisurely turns by the constantly tighter turning steep curve towards the end of the slide, where you better shouldn’t underestimate the G-forces.

Colorado Coaster

Even the rather leisurely looking Colorado Coaster is a big deal. After the first few shallow metres of track, in which several left and right turns alternate, a nice drop awaits you, after which the following turn is completed with a lot of rocking. Shortly afterwards, a brilliant final awaits you with a thoroughly pronounced double drop, which releases you from the slide with a broad grin.

Dragon’s Lair

The front staircase in Splashdown Poole leads you to the Space Bowl Infinity, as well as to the largest slide in the pool, the Dragon’s Lair. Past the children’s area of the pool, the path leads you to another staircase, at the end of which is the entrance to Dragon’s Lair. This staircase used to be much larger and the access to the water slide was correspondingly higher. Over a longer straight line, one increases constantly in speed on the slide before a rather high shot pulls one down. This is followed by several curves and narrow curve changes that consistently slow you down before you reach the end of the slide. Unfortunately, the long slide ride, especially thanks to the quality of the joints on it, is not really convincing. For the height of the layout, the ride is simply too slow and hardly gets going at all; a comparison to the original layout of the slide would be interesting in this case.

Infinity

After I had tried my first funnel slide with plunging exit in the Joyful Waterpark of the Japanese amusement park Nagashima Spa Land, the tension regarding Infinity was much less, but the anticipation for the ride was much greater. The local funnel is completely enclosed and features different light and sound effects, which are played at the user’s choice. Nevertheless, the urge to repeat rides, away from the already long waiting times, was extremely limited, because you could feel every single joint in the funnel. Due to the plop run-out and the resulting drop manoeuvres, the slide is still a lot of fun and can be recommended; without it, however, it would have been just one slide.

Screamer Tower

Now let’s get to the outdoor area of Splashdown Poole, where we already got lost on the Mississippi Drifter and the Outdoor Screamer Tower with its three PPK Promoplast slides. These three slides were originally located at the Centre 2000 in Southampton before they were moved to Poole after the closure of the Leisure Centre. By taking advantage of the hillside location, however, the slide tower looks as if it had been intended from the outset. A steel staircase takes you up quickly with cold feet, where the entrances of the two tire slides Tennessee Twister and Louisiana Leap, as well as the two turbo slides The Screamer and Velocity are waiting.

Tennessee Twister and Louisiana Leap

The two parallel tyre slides Tennessee Twister and Louisiana Leap are the first of these. With a small jumpstart you quickly build up speed and then slide along the curves of a horizontal figure eight. On the second diagonally running track, another jump awaits the slide, whereupon the final right-hand bend follows in a sweeping manner. Over a final shot, you are then released into the run-out pool, where you more or less elegantly separate from your tire. In fact, both slides are unexpectedly leisurely and offer quite nice airtime moments, but nothing more.

The Screamer

The green turbo slide The Screamer, which also came from PPK Promoplast, is also unexpectedly leisurely on its way. Fans of the former Grüner Hai slide of the Miramar Weinheim might be disappointed to find only a rather solid turbo slide here, due to the missing bend in the slide’s course and the absurdly wild swinging section afterwards. There is absolutely no reason to complain, as the slide fits perfectly into the large turbo slide portfolio of the Splashdown Poole Water Park.

Velocity

The highlight of the tower, however, is the Velocity turbo slide built in 2012. Compared to its PPK sibling, this slide really does have a bend in its appearance, in fact, it has a double bend. The slide starts with a very steep shot, which shortly after turns into a more leisurely ascent. Mercilessly a short left bend follows, whereupon the landing pool is reached and first of all a gush of water is carried out of the slide. What an awesome slide! Velocity does what it promises and so you rush down this short slide in a speed rush.

Conclusion Splashdown Poole

Splashdown Poole is a solid water park, but its interior has clearly aged. The water slides stand out from the crowd for the most part and, except for the joints of individual slides, are absolutely convincing. We ourselves were lucky to have passed by at a favourable time, as the pool became more and more crowded towards the end of our visit. But as it is the case in every water park, the question is if one wants to wait so long for a slide, specially as the entrance fee is comparatively high; at least compared to the German pools. A visit is worthwhile in any case and can be perfectly combined with a visit to the picturesque city of Bournemouth.

 

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Splashdown Poole