Rockhampton Show 2,3,4 June

[tooheyzz]

I remember the Skydiver too was one on my favourites when I was Young to

Found a pic for those that don't remember and also a on ride Video



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y52F4LjDTIs

[Top Gunner14]

Geez dunno how you spotted the Skydiver, I can't see it. Yeh would be good to know what happened to it. Pink's have the ex-Durkin Force-10 now don't they?

[tooheyzz]

I think 1992 might close to the last time i saw Skydiver at our local show it was in pretty sad condition ripped padding and it took a lot of effort to steer the cars

Speaking of the good ol days Music Machine (Himalaya) was another of my favourites so long ago since i seen it about

Heres a picture of a similar unit the blue Cars are identical)


also a Ride Called Matterhorn which had cars quite different to Alpine Express more enclosed the pivot point was more towards the centre so they swung differently

Actually when Alpine Express made its debut at our local It was claimed it was just imported along with a new Himalaya type ride I think called Music Express it looked very simular to Alpine Express except a Himalaya type ride actually don't think it ever made another appearance I think it might have been owned by Pinks though i could be wrong about that

I always thought the Music Machine gave a better ride seems to go faster its was sure showing its age in the end with lots of clacking from the joints in track
of course it could have been that they were taking it easy on their Brand new ride

[Top Gunner14]

Ok I didn't know about the Music Machine ride. Looks quite similar to Osbourne's Rage that is based in Perth. The only other Musik Express type ride I knew about in the 90's was Wittingslow's Musik Express which is now based at Luna Park Sydney under the name Tango Train.

Yeh Short's Matterhorn still pops up at a few bigger shows these days and is still up for sale. It was built by Sobema in the 70's. The ride has the earlier Sobema designed cars as you said Tohyeez with the front of them merging to the pivot point. It's built on 2 trailers (the main centre of the ride: sweeps, frames, motors, decks etc. And the second trailer carrying the cars, fences, decorations etc). Whereas the Alpine Express is a more earlier model and I remember Zamperla saying it was one of the first computer designed rides. It has the earlier Sobema cars and is all built on 1 trailer.

[Zamperla]

Topgunner, pretty sure that IS Lew Osbourne's. (many years ago)
EDIT: I miss-read your post. I was wondering where the upright paratrooper came from, till I saw that it was similar. probably in USA.

I liked that Youtube clip. I never have ridden a Skydiver, but I see from that video why people like it so much.

[Top Gunner14]

Yeh does anyone have any photos of the Rage back in the days of "Music Machine"? And Josh how did the show go?

[Josh in Rocky]

No good for us gunner, we did not even half of last year. Spoke to a group from the show society/guild who were going around to the site holders guaging thoughts, and they said today they were getting exact messurements of the extended ride area so it doesn't happen again. We still had alot of great feedback from both customers and operators which was nice. Some operators are now proud owners of some nice new disco lights/strobes too...
Had alot of food vendors, and joint operators say they too were down about half of last year, however this show was also the first one they have struggled with.
Didn't help with the local paper/radio carrying on about swine flu break outs from the show being in town, state of origin on the public holliday night, beef week a few weeks before, emerald show on at the same time for 2 days. Next year those dates don't clash though.
Last night came to an end in a big hurry with rides starting to pack up at 9pm.

[Top Gunner14]

Geez thats not too good. Yeh its going over the top with the Swine Flu, the media is just pumping it into us and macking us panic everytime we here of an outbreak in our area or someone elses. But no good, not even halfing last years amounts, and the extended ride area sounded like a waste of space, so what did they use to fill this space? At least you got some of your lighting sold to the ops, what rides/owners added some to their collections?

[princess]

I mentioned in an Ekka post that I thought the Swine flu was going to end up being a problem, this problem will either get worse, or people are going to go "sh** happens" and continue with on with their lives.

(just posted this and it took out my swear word, its not even a bad word, bugger)

[tooheyzz]

Shame the Show wasn't as popular as it should have been guess it had a few things up against it this year
Hopefully people will make up for it next year
Seem quite disorganised if the guild wasn't advised of the size of the extra space before hand but I guess they would need quite a bit of advanced notice to organise some extra equipment
Hopefully this swine flu is old news by ekka time I've got a sneaky feeling some are making an awful lot of money running the scare campaign

Here a small image of The Rage

[Josh in Rocky]

The guild had it all under control in regards to space until a few days before the told the council they didn't want all the space, with that time frame it stayed empty. Unfortunately gunner, we were looking at pantechs and gen sets in front of us.
Just went out to finish packing up and it seems someone has added to their collection at our expense!!!
Our tarps in front of site were pulled down and some dirty grubs have cut the cords and stolen about $1000 worth of lights from our display some time today.
So this has effectively put an end to any ideas we had of doing a northern run etc. A bit disheartening...
Anyhoo, it's done with now. Anyone else with sites at shows be wary...

[Top Gunner14]

Far out what dickheads. Shows how much you can trust some people. Sorry to hear Josh, bloody idiots as I said goes to show you can't trust some people on the showgrounds (not meaning the showmen) but would've probably been another store-holder who took a look and thought you beauty and taken your gear.

[tooheyzz]

OH Crap that a real low thing to do Josh
I always same what goes around come around so they will get there's one day hope they feel guilty every time the flick the switch

I guess there must of a few guild operators that pulled out
Possibly the operators the had the back spaces thought the northern run wasn't worth the effort this year will the economic woes and flu etc

[Top Gunner14]

There was Emerald show on aswell. And Rocky gets heaps of gear so they've probably given the show a miss and gone to the show thats the next one on.

[Josh in Rocky]

Emerald dates don't clash next year which should make a difference. Apart from the bad taste in our mouth, I thought the operators of the show was Gill Bros with their Ali Baba... The ride itself looked terrific, only 1 or 2 blown globes on the Baba, their dodgem track beside it looked great with the lighting they used, and on the slow days they sent up 1 person or 2 people and still gave them a great ride with as much interaction as a full ride cycle. And when they were crankin on wed night they had full rides and plenty of onlookers which was pretty impressive. The other rides during slow times either didnt operate or make the rides wait for more people.
The prime movers looked clean and caravans looked well looked after too. Congrats on the hard work guys... Very impressive...
Of all the gear there i think Space Roller got my vote as most impressive, with the ride very clean and the boys all very well presented and seemed happy and 'awake' over the 3 days. Best atmosphere too, even with the music a little quieter (I think) after the first day. Top shelf, even with Sky walker right beside it.
Dissapointing was the lack of kids rides, sure there was a few of the older style ones, but none of the newer zamperla type rides or family type smaller rides.
All of which was here last year. No euro Slide, Ferrari karts, Flashdance, SkyView, Cyber Party, Sling Shot, Gravitron, No Simulators. (Off top of the head)
Seemed to be alot more small stalls like sno cones, glow stuff, and food vans etc...
Hope it didn't hurt our showmen too much with the small crowds..

[Josh in Rocky]

Going to yeppoon for a look tomorrow to see who made the trek. (About half hour drive from Rocky) for our out of staters...

[Top Gunner14]

Thanks for that quick review Josh. Yeh when I saw Ali Baba this year it was looking good at both Sydney and Hawkesbury. The only thing that annoys me is that they overplay the playbacks way too much. Like when the ride first starts, they swing it back and forth for a bit and just constantly play "Put your hands in the air if you wanna go faster" or "scream if you wanna go faster" which is annoying. The riders don't seem to pay much attention as much as they would if the operator spruiked which I like better.

Would've been intresting seeing Sky Walker and Space Roller operate next to each other, two very nice Euro attractions. Did you get any photos or any photos from Yeppoon tomorrow?

[Josh in Rocky]

Funny you should say that about the baba, cause I thought the same thing. But then I thought to myself, at least they use it... hehe
I got no pics from Rocky, but went to Yeppoon tonight and got a few. It's a baby of a show, but I thought it was a beauty as the
atmosphere was awesome.
Speaking of playbacks, compare Ali Baba to Ultimate Party Machine... Noticed the Baba doesn't get alot of interaction from the riders, (Using the playback voices) whereas the guy who operates Party machine does it all himself and every time he gets that thing screeming and everyone is right into it. Very impressive. Still have a soft spot for that ride!!

[Josh in Rocky]

here's a pic of out site during the day. You can probably see the beam of disco lights just under the sign on the gazebo, every light accept for the middle one was stolen. Could be worse, the lovely lady next to us we met at the show had her bum bag stolen (full of takings) which had her keys in, then had her car ransacked the same night our stuff was stolen. not a good night...

[Top Gunner14]

Nice little display you had there. Shame with what happened and poor lady, geez taking her bumbag, arrogant pricks.......

Yeh I haven't heard them over the microphone before for the Ali Baba. But yeh Ultimate Party Machine, I remember last year at Penrith when I saw the ride, Bill and his operator both had goes at operating and they were both great, the ride went insane at night, with all the smoke, lights then all the spruiking throughout the whole ride cycle. And when they spruik its not like "alright lets take you back the other way" they get right into it talking basically throughout the whole ride. And both their voices sound good too like suit the ride. At least his doing well with the ride

[Josh in Rocky]

Yeah sure of it, the screams coming from the Party machine in Yeppoon was probably the most noise from a ride I have ever heard!
Always had a soft spot for this style of ride, particularly Miami Music Trip, and it's exciting to see it operated like that.

[princess]

Thanks Josh for all the updates, it gets a bit quite after Rocky as far as reports go, great job.

[DEEFA DODGEM]

Hi all,sorry for the delay but my computer had a meltdown on Friday and is now back up.You've probably read what was at Rocky so here's the final lineup:1-ALPINE EXPRESS,2-DODGEMS-Davis,3-HAUNTED HOTEL,4-DODGEMS-Nitro Cars,5-BREAK DANCE,6-ZIPPER-Shorts,7-SEA CIRCUS,8-DODGEMS-Shorts,9-CRAZY CARS,10-HURRICANE-Marchs',11-GHOST PIRATES,12-HANG OVER,13-ALI BABA,14-DODGEMS-Gills,15-MAGIC CIRCUS,16-SLIDE,17-CLIFF HANGER,18-DODGEMS-?,19-ZIPPER-Davis,20-HARD ROCK,21-WAVE SWINGER,22-SPACE ROLLER,23-EXTREME SPEED,24-CRAZY COASTER,25-DODGEMS-Blades,27-FUN FACTORY, 28-BIG WHEEL,29-SKY WALKER,30-HALLOWEEN,31-ENERGY STORM,32-MEGA DROP,33-BIG WHIZZER,34-ULTIMATE PARTY MACHINE.A few notable exceptions with some doing the S.E.Qld run and Scorpion doing Alice Springs show.I hate to admit it but Shorts Zipper shat all over Davis'. I went on it twice in a row and lost count of spins after 16 and got out of the carriage walking like I had a brew or 14!At least the Sky Walker didn't break down on us this year as last year,it lost all power and we were stuck UPSIDE DOWN about 20 meters up for what seemed about 10 minutes.The Alpine Express is looking very tired and could do with a spruce up like the ones in the U.K. My mate I was working for wants me to do the Mackay show with him next week(depending on my work roster)and will do a review-1st one for Mackay I believe-if I get up there.Topgunner:the Sky Diver isn't actually in the '92 photo but was always set up in the same spot to the left of the Big Wheel except for 1 year and you would be able to see it in the photo if it was in the other spot.Cheers,Deefa.

[princess]

Thanks Deefa,for your review and review north of Rocky, that would be something different!!! Well done

[Zamperla]

Josh, very sorry to read about the theft of your equipment.

Deefa, thanks for your review. 16+ flips in a row. sounds like you really max'd out on Short's Zipper!