Australian Amusement Fanatics

I swear that thing was at Rosebud carnival once, or Wittingslow had a similar coaster, it was purple

I remember seeing the Chip Munk Coaster at the Dandenong Show in 1995, also there was Rainbow, Enterprise, Hurricane, Superloop (Osbourne), Zipper, double Ranger... it was a big event.

We were talking to one of the Marchs' (sorry no relation!) the last time they had it in Rocky and they said it was on a 20 or 25 year lease from the States and was going back then (late 90's). But what ever did happen to the Sky Diver?? First time I rode it, I did nothing but get thrown around inside the cage, after a few years I gave it another go. Much better ride when you can wrestle that "steering wheel" So you can keep yourself in some sort of upright position. Would love to have another shot at it again. Anybody know what happened to this classic ride which was run by Paviers???

I remember hearing sky diver at Adelaide show n i think 2003-2004. I havent heard anything since. It looks like a fun ride, id give it ago myself

hey all


if we are talking classics and its been mentioned about the ocotpus
then i can honestly say that i know 100% that there is quite a few still traveling around oz. i also no of 1 in particular owned by the flahertys that is in extremely good condition for a ride that is roughly 60yrs old and also not to mention the fact that they have had the ride for many many years and when they first had it it was not on a trailer but that has since happened. its very smooth for a ride of its age. it may not be on the capitals but it travels and gets treted VERY well and also well maintained

thats right, Flaherty's octopus is very well maintained, as is the one owned by party time amusements, also my para trooper is about 50 years old i think and it still runs very smooth, pity its so much work putting it up and down

hi flahertys occy was built by mick taylor in around 1950 for a family in sydney called dalgleash it worked around sydney travelling only as far as the entrance for christmas the center was mounted on a ww11 40 mm bofors AA gun trailer and the truck was a international K.B.5 the main reason the older rides dont work the capitial shows is the number of customers per hour most octopus rides would only handle around 150 to 200 riders per hour out of this there is the rent wages and the hidden charges that occur at the bigger shows and all the usuall other expenses
as well also they only want the newest the biggest and the brightest i think ther are 3 occys travelling and the one in brisbane on the hire run the one in brissy used to belong to marcovitch the other two traveling are americian machines i think marchs occy is still used now and then but not very much

At the moment, Shea's Spider is up for Sale and isn't travelling.

if i recall corectly the O'Sheas spider was for sale last year so why does that stop it from travelling this year????? is it sacred of the competion. and that its gunna loose more money than it can make

I think it has stopped, this is what I've been told anyway. I don't know why. I'm just the messanger telling you.

hi with the older rides i think most will survie as they still make a profit when they stay away from all the new stuff at the small country shows the customers seem to ride the older rides and they are scared of any thing new i know of times when the older ride has taken more monie than the new ride

Yes, people at their local shows would've grown up with the classics and they still ride them today. Some older rides do great at some shows. It's like a show tradition going on the rides you grew up going on when you were younger. Like the cha cha, everytime I'm at a show, there are people young and old on it and it does very well at most shows. Some rides will go and some I'd say will stick around forever

As far as rides I think we will see around for a long time yet, they would have to be as follows.

Cha Cha's / Sizzlers
Kami Killers / SHOCKWAVES / HangOvers
Hurricanes
Music Trips
Octopussys
Paratroopers
Break Dances
Roundups
Matterhorns
Zipper

Those rides I reckon will be around for a while to come.

Yeh Hurri, I agree with you on most of those rides. Scramblers will be around forever as they are popular on the show circuit and on hire jobs, same with Kamikaze's, popular on the show circuit and the top Gun is very popular on the hire jobs, Hurri's, popular with hire jobs, easy to set up/tear down, fun ride, Miami's, good for hire jobs, very, very easy to setup/tear down and popular, not to sure about Paratroopers, these are very slowly fading out but they are still popular, Breakdances, one of the most popular rides in the world, thats all I'll say on that one, Roundup's and Zippers, very popular, fun rides, easy to transport, classic. But the Matterhorn, still going but we have had one of our faourites phase out and now only doing capitals. But Alpine Xpress still does heaps of shows, Starchase but Matterhorn hasn't been around for a bit now. But are still great rides, just transporting and seting up's a pain in the ass especially seting up thunderbolt.