Gladstone Harbour Festival.

[DEEFA DODGEM]

I went down to the Gladstone Harbour Festival over the Easter long week-end which usuallly has a decent turnout for a small Festival,this year was no different.. This year there was:
-Dodgems
-Scrambler
-Tilt-a-Whirl
-Kamikaze
-Zipper (John Castles')
-Temple of Doom
-Jumbo Slide
-Fun Factory
-Hurricane
-Cyber Party
-Ali Baba
-Flash Dance.

I only tried out 2 rides for the night,Cyber Party and Flash Dance. Cyber Party definately has it over Break Dance with the way the arms lift up to give a more intense ride and it almost seems to go faster pinning you back into your seat. This is the first time Flash Dance has been up this way and I haven't been on this type of ride since the days of the "Explorer" at the Rocky Show! It was a top,fast ride but with a noticable break in between the forward and reverse transition (maybe the Dales' operator was going easy on the gear or there could have been a problem there, either way,a few seconds wait didn't hurt at all) It still had "Chants" name on the backdrop but I dare say that will get taken care of in due course.The Ali Baba (Verfurths' old one) now has a "Gill Bros." sticker on the ticket box, a nice big addition to their Dodgems,Big Wheel and kids rides.Marchs' Hurricane looks a million bucks with its new set up- new paint work and new sound system,good to see the operator getting involved with some interaction too- should be more of it! DEEFA.














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[Hurricane]

Well, what a good review! First of all with the Ex Chants Flash Dance, there may have been a long transition because they may not be that familiar with the ride yet. Which is understandable, It's also good to hear about your review on March's Hurricane. The only other version in AU that I have ridden that comes close to that would have to be Elwin Bell's unit.

And I totally agree with you about Cyber Party, it is a VERY intense ride. If only Ian and Robert Trindall would get it onto the capitals (if your reading this we'd love to see it at ekka ) Also what were you thinking of the appearance of the ride? This is one thing that makes Laurie's unit better than Cyber Party is the theming. I hope the Trindalls make some upgrades to it in the future to make it look even better than it is!

[benclare]

Yep great review and I agree about Syber Party. It would be good if it made it onto the capital shows but I don't think it'll happen in the near future as Lawrie's Breakdance is probably here to stay and capital show societies don't usually like more than one ride of its kind on the midway except for dogem cars of course.

Another good Aussie Hurricane to ride is Young's unit which is in excellent condition and has a great ride program that lasts longer than most.

[DEEFA DODGEM]

Hurricane, you're right about Lauries Breakdance having a better appearance than the Cyber Party, but only just. I think if Trindalls were to bring it up to Rocky against Breakdance, there would be a fairly even fight on. I think that once people notice the lifting arms they would probably give it a go over the Breakdance which may have better paint and brighter lights. It's just a shame more owners don't take better care of their rides with regards to paint,lights and sound systems (type of music for that matter too), the Kamikaze's paint job looks like it's been rubbed back with a Besser Block and put on with a chooks bum!

[tooheyzz]

I went of the Harbour Festival too its always a great event but I did notice some of the equipment was in need of a tidy up the dodgems was one i noticed was very untidy and generally looking uncared for and there a a very old carousel OMG it was shocking but guess what can you do with machine of it age
quite a few operator seem to have decide the easiest light setup was the use of old traffic lights which I think just look daggy the zipper was one such a shame as a we presented zipper looks awesome which good lighting guess it doesn't make much difference to the riders

Of course the were the exceptions with cyberparty breakdance and flashdance looking good for a regional event I guess they have the age avantage ....

[benclare]

The presentation of rides is always important but as long as all the parts are working well and safely, that's probably the most important thing. i imagine it'd be difficult maintaining the good appearance of these machines with them being transported around the country and in almost constant use.

[princess]

Engineers are supposed to check these rides at regular intervals, it would be at an owners peril not too.

[Josh in Rocky]

Cyber Party was in Rocky last year dude!...

[tooheyzz]

The presentation of rides is always important but as long as all the parts are working well and safely, that's probably the most important thing. i imagine it'd be difficult maintaining the good appearance of these machines with them being transported around the country and in almost constant use.

Guess you've got a point there there rides that do the regonal circuit must do a lot of traveling and with all the unracking and racking there's sure to be some wear a tear
It was all cosmetic can't say any one ride looking unsafe just untidy and some unclean the carousel was a bit clunky and creaking but it don't go real fast so don't think it would have few apart

[DEEFA DODGEM]

Yeh Josh I know it was, sorry what I was trying to get across was if they were set up next to each other it would give the riders who may not have noticed the slight difference between the two. For most of the ride time it looks the same except for the small duration that the arms actually lift up.A bit like setting up two Zippers next to each other and seeing which one actually runs faster I suppose.

[Josh in Rocky]

ahh kewl..
Got to admit it took a few laps of the showgrounds, and a second visit to figure out what the difference was when they first stated showing up together a few years back...