RexDragon Review: Sydney Royal Easter Show 2011

[RexDragon]

Hey there, it's RexDragon, and after a big day at the 2011 Sydney Royal Easter Show, it's time for my review, so here goes:

I found it disappointing that the ride lineup of the 2011 RES remained the same as last year's, with the exception of the Disk-O coaster being the newest addition. Though nowhere near as good as the 2008 RES (manly due to absence of awesome rides like the Rainbow), they've managed to lay a good impression on me, even though they have the cruddy Fear Tower Coaster. Fortunately, the rollercoaster didn't get left out in the dust when it broke like before, so that counts as a plus to see a carnival operating without a single defunct ride. Old favourites were there too like the Breakdance and Taipan Rollercoaster. There are some bad rides too, but thankfully there weren't many. So anyway, let's get on to what was there at the Coca Cola Carnival. I will start first by reviewing the rides I went on today...

Hard Rock - This ride is one of my personal favourites. I've always wished to see a KMG Freak Out here in Australia, because KMG is one of the best thrill ride manufacturers - in my opinion. Well at least we have the Technical Park Street Fighter Hard Rock, which is a really good ride. An incredibly sensational ride that swings up and down, with the maximum swing virtually reaching 127 degrees. When you're in the facedown position, it almost feels as if you're about to fall down, but that's the fun of it since you know you're safely secured by the strong shoulder restraints. Awesome. Totally awesome.

Rock n Roll - Though the ride behaves similarly to the Raupen Bahn, it spices up the thrill with the concept of cars swinging. There's even a possibility that it can swing up virtually upsidedown if riders are riding it alone, so to get the most out of this fast and furious ride is to ride it by yourself. Very exciting ride indeed, though I thought Bell's Thunderbolt was much better...

Breakdance - LPS may have Spider, but this one is more intense than the Spider in one way, and it is more fun due to the time length of the ride. It nearly clocks up to 5 minutes, and it doesn't let up. The upbeat music adds more to the thrill and intensity of the ride. The ride may only twist and turn, but it was definitely worth it. If only LPS could operate the Spider to its max potential, it could rival this ride. An all-time favourite of mine.

Space Roller - Finally, my first time riding the Space Roller. All I have to say is that it's a very intense ride. You spin around while the entire claw lifts you up in the air. Get ready for a series of high-speed somersaults. You'll also have the feeling as if you are flying. I kept my eyes closed through most of the cycle as I was both scared and thrilled at the same time, but I really enjoyed the ride altogether. I'm glad I finally get to ride the Space Roller, because this became one of my favourite rides.

Sky Flyer - After four intense rides, it's time for me to relax and unwind, and what better can you go on than the Sky Flyer? A relaxing, yet thrilling, ride. When it starts, the chairs are lifted up a tower which is more than half the height of the KMG Speed ride. You could practically get a good view of the whole showground from that height. The Sky Flier provided a very breathtaking experience.

Skymaster Ferris Wheel - Another relaxing ride. Just your standard Ferris Wheel. Great view.

Disk-O - Well, now that I've relaxed and unwound myself, it's time to head back to the intense, and I started off with the Disk-O coaster. You look out from a round disk that spins around while it moves up and down a tracked chute. All in all, it's quite a fun ride, to say the least.

Sky Walker - I mentioned KMG being one of the best thrill ride manufacturers, and here is where I could finally justify my opinion. KMG, a ride manufacturer from West Holland, made classics like Freak Out, Afterburner, Inversion, Discovery, and of course, this ride, the Tango. Now this variant has a Star Wars theme, and when I rode it, I was in for an awesome experience. The ride was fast, furious, and extremely fun. Surprisingly, I didn't experience any pain in the crotch as I thought I would, though I admit the seats were somewhat uncomfortable. But that didn't drop any points for this ride, and I could hardly decide which ride I liked best, the Space Roller or the Sky Walker, as both of them became my favourite rides equally. In my vote, KMG is the Dutch equivalent to Huss in terms of quality in design, and this ride is no exception. This ride really is one of KMG's finest. Thank you KMG for bringing Australia a very fun and fantastic ride.

Taipan - Boy, I said a mouthful about KMG and the Sky Walker, and now it's on to the rollercoasters. I've ridden the Crazy Coaster before, but the coaster I've ridden most of the time is the Taipan. Although transportable rollercoasters don't match up the awesomeness of the bigger coasters found in amusement parks, this one hardly disappoint me. A pretty big transportable coaster, and a really good one. You start by dropping down two hills, followed a round of two helixes. True, this coaster is very short, but it does win over the Crazy Coaster, which is pretty decent in my opinion since it adds more fun with its spinning cars.

Wave Swinger - To conclude my stay at the RES, I'm going to ride a tame ride, the Wave Swinger. March Amusements did a great new paint job on it since its temporary stay at LPS. There's not much to say about the ride, except that it was fun, relaxing, and enjoyable. It may not be as thrilling as the Sky Flyer, but considering that the Wave Swinger is a classic, there's no excuse not ride it. Fun for everyone of all ages.

Other than the rides I have ridden, I will also talk about some rides I haven't ridden. True, anyone could say that I can't talk about something I haven't tried, but some of these rides do deserved to be mentioned. So here's a rundown of the rides considered worthy of recognition.

Ali Baba - No, I'm not going to praise it, or throw a tirade on it. Instead, I want to focus on the mertis and faults of this ride. Well, as far as I can say, it's nice the other ride manufacturers like A. R. M. (Ali Baba) and Weber (1001 Nachts) decided to make their own variants of the Huss classic Rainbow. The only problem is that they haven't executed it well, and that's something found in the Ali Baba. It may move faster, or least as fast as the Rainbow, and uses shoulder restraints instead of lap bars, but unfortunately that doesn't save it from mediocrity. Ali Baba is an okay ride, but not a worthy successor of the Rainbow, and I wouldn't even call it that...

Extreme Speed - Apart from the Sky Walker, this is another good ride manufactured by the legendary KMG. I always found It pretty intimidating, seeing how riders are propelled way up high in the sky. When it starts, it goes up and down at breakneck speed (no pun intended) while the seats flip freely. This is one of RES's extreme rides

No Limit - But nothing compared to the Mondial Capriolo/Furiozo (Mondial Booster) ride, No Limit. It looks like quite a monster. 5G's? Wow! That's some really heavy stuff right here! Probably not a ride I will try now, but when I get more experience with the intense rides, maybe. Maybe...

Power Surge - I don't know why I decided to mention Power Surge. Probably because this was the only Top Spinner style of ride I haven't tried yet now that I experienced Space Roller and Sky Walker. Sorry about that, Topgunner. I would like to see you operating the ride since you've mentioned about wanting to meet other riders. Still, it looks like a fun ride, and I might try it one day. Thankfully, the Power Surge does appear as a holiday ride for LPS at times.

XXXL - This attraction looks like an awesome ride. A Hard Rock/Ranger hybrid type of ride, it also provides some free-flipping of the seats later on. I love the beautiful colour scheme of this ride, though it's practically the same as the Extreme Speed. KMG truly outdid themselves with this spectacular ride. Now that I think of it, I don't know which one is more intense, XXXL or Extreme Speed? Anyways, XXXL is the latest KMG ride here in Australia, but definitely not the last. It would be great if we get another attraction from them, like Experience, or Discovery, or even the latest attraction they are working on which they announced would be released in late 2011 or early 2012. Surely, this is something I am looking forward to...

Bottom line: It was still disappointing not to see other good rides, but it did managed to raise some appeal for me. Overall, I could say that I did get my money's worth. I had a wonderful time, and I managed to ride more rides than last year. Let's hope that next year's RES will be better - and with better rides this time! Hopefully, Rainbow will make its return for 2012's RES, so keep us informed on that DeafShow. I and everyone else at AAF are glad to hear OCS is doing the best they can to get the ride fully updated. Thanks again to KMG for providing some of their best rides to Australia. The RES would be dull without your high-quality thrill rides.

That's it for this review. Hope you enjoyed it, and I hope everyone who went to the RES will relax for now until next year. Thank you reading. Good night.

RexDragon

[princess]

Thank you Rex for you great review.

[Zamperla]

Yes good to read your thoughts and observations RexDragon! Glad you finally tried Spaceroller, definitely not a boring ride that one.

Did you take any photos?

[benclare]

One of my favourite things is reading reviews on AAF and yours was great!

I don't think the Rock-n-Roll is capable of inverting but is pretty good just the same. Obviously I'm talking about the one at the RES, not Young's much older one that definitely does go upside down.

Keep the reviews coming guys! I'll be back at the Show this Friday night I think. I'm a bit worried about how crouded it'll be but I'm sure it'll still be good. I'm running out of time unfortunately as I'm back to Samoa on Sunday.

[RexDragon]

Thank you all for your positive comments. I had fun writing this review as much as I had fun at the RES.

Sorry Zamperla, I didn't bring a camera that day.

Space Roller and Sky Walker were the one of the few rides I haven't tried before, so I'm glad I finally got a chance to ride those two rides and review them. Disk-O was pretty fun, too. I'm also glad to give my opinion on the rides I didn't go on. XXXL and Extreme Speed look awesomely good - what can you expect from KMG? No Limit truly is the grand champion of extreme rides rivalling the Sling Shot. Bit by bit as I work my up the intense rides, hopefully I can take on Extreme Speed and No Limit one day. Even though I really dislike the Ali Baba, I did give the ride a better treatment on pointing out both its good and bad points. Power Surge does look like a fun ride, though I prefer Space Roller and Sky Walker any day now.

Looking forward to checking out reviews from other members of AAF. Ride on!

RexDragon

[HUSSRAINBOW]

good review mate, haha you sound like me before i finally got the courage up to do XXXL and NO LIMIT... honestly, I feel totally stupid now for putting No Limit off for these past years, it's a truly amazing, and FUN experience.... Honestly, it looks worse that it really is... Something I feel that Mondial are slightly more classy, and engineered nicer than KMG, not to say that XXXL and SKYWALKER (which might I add is the best looking model in the world) arent amazing attractions
Speaking to OCS people, they said RAINBOW is looking for a comeback in 2012, it's going to be getting a new paintjob (hopefully back to the original HUSS colours/stripes) and that they need everyone to email the RAS about seeing the rainbow next year.... here's hoping, I wont believe it until I see that ride racked at the showgrounds

[RexDragon]

Thanks Huss.

Mondial's pretty good. I considered Huss, KMG, and Mondial to be the best thrill ride manufacturers today. Like I mentioned before in my review, KMG is the Dutch equivalent to Huss. Can't wait to check out your review, dude.

[HUSSRAINBOW]

HUSS will always be my favourite, afterall they did build the ride that made me love carnival rides!

[RexDragon]

Rainbow has always been my favourite Huss ride. I've also ridden all the Huss rides in LPS. They're just excellent rides.

[HUSSRAINBOW]

that is true, if only wittingslow still owned them all, and they were doing well, they would all be thrilling everyone at the easter show now

[princess]

Did you take any photos?

Maybe you should take a surprise visit up to take photos?????

[benclare]

Oh how I wish I could take photos and vids!

Not sure whether the RAS have stopped rainbow from running at the Show but I guess it's possible. I like so many do hope for a come back next year or perhaps before that at Ekka, Melbourne or Adelaide. How is Fear doing? I am feeling more positive about it despite its breakdown on the first day as I've seen nothing bad about it in the press and a few of you have seen it working properly.

[princess]

It's down tonight ben

[HUSSRAINBOW]

it's junk... not worth the groundspace it's taking up

[RexDragon]

Yeah. Fear is the worst roller coaster ever made. It's basically a vertical hill and a loop. Even worse when it tends to break down.

[Tayz]

I think that kmg make the best traveling rides, because they don't don't just have one really good ride like mondial they have consistently been making good rides.

[Hurricane]

Mondial make a truckload of good rides...

Top Scan
Furiozo / Capriolo
Airwolf
Diablo

... Just to name a few...

[RexDragon]

You've forgot to name the Swinger, that looks like another good Mondial ride. But I agree with Tayz here. Mondial's rides are very well-designed and the quality is top-notch, though I prefer KMG's rides. Not only are the quality of the rides as good as Mondial, their visual appeal thanks to the well-adorned lights are also very high. Mondial's got a number of good rides, but there's so many rides by KMG to name from: Tango, Speed, Inversion, Freak Out, Afterburner, Swing It, High Swing, Fun Factory, Move It, and also their newest installment they will release later on the year.

[HUSSRAINBOW]

KMG is good, but can tend to be lemons at times... Speed loves to lose its sh** and be a headache for goldenway at times, at Moomba it was being a right ol' bastard for a while. Mondial are awesome in their quality, almost as good as HUSS, but it's a shame that rides like Airwolf, theres only been about 2 ever made... Would be cool to see their smaller version INTOXX here..

[RexDragon]

Well, I kinda considered KMG to be the Huss of Holland, because their visual and style kinda reminds me of Huss in so many ways. Mondial has a style that is different from Huss as it teeters more into super-intense rides. However, to ride one of Mondial's rides is to be acquainted with Huss and KMG as they are well-designed and offered thrills that are unique. KMG's rides may break at times, though quite rarely, but I hand it to them and Mondial for providing the best thrills for Australia to have at their shows like the RES.

I would like Australia to have a Mondial Diablo. It looks like a fun ride.

Other rides I would also like Australia to have are the Mondial Swinger, KMG Experience, and Technical Park Heavy Rotation.

[Hurricane]

From watching videos online... the Swinger looks to be rather tame... and for what it is it looks to be a right royal pain to set up and pull down!

As far as SPEED goes, it's one of the earlier model KMG Boosters, whereas freestyle is a newer model and appears to be alot more reliable with the kinks worked out a bit more.

[benclare]

Having ridden both Mondial and KMG rides, I don't think I could tell the two manufacturers apart unless I was told as the rides are so similar.

[RexDragon]

Having ridden both Mondial and KMG rides, I don't think I could tell the two manufacturers apart unless I was told as the rides are so similar.

Mondial has the distinctive fences around the rides. Notice how the fences of Space Roller look just like the fences of No Limit and the Sky Wheel located outside the carnival. KMG's rides are heavily glittered with lights, making the rides visually appealing, and most of the rides, particularly the swinging rides like XXXL, including Speed tend to have a rainbow-coloured scheme. Some of the KMG rides also have purple shoulder restraints, which I think is pretty neat. Quality and style of KMG rides are close to that of Huss, hence my statement of KMG being the Huss of Holland. That doesn't mean Mondial isn't as good as KMG and Huss, because their rides are high quality too.