Richard Bannister

I am not and am never likely to be the General Manager of a theme park. I work in a different industry, and I’m minded to keep it that way – not least because I have no interest in mixing business and pleasure. My knowledge of the business side of the industry is perhaps somewhat more extensive than that of the average park patron, but nevertheless limited to that of an enthusiast. Given that I probably shouldn’t launch into a tirade against those who made the criminal decision to retire the classic wooden Wild Mouse – one of just five in the world at the time – in favour of a characterless modern equivalent. However, the reader can succinctly summarise my perspective by making generous use of the symbols on the top row of the keyboard.

My day at Aussie World began at Dingo Racer (#3061), a second generation Reverchon product that is easily distinguished from the original thanks to a curved climb and drop at the front of the layout. When the ride was first announced it had a rather amazing back story, long since expunged from the park website and (one suspects) the official history. Fortunately I have a screenshot, and in the interests of balanced reporting I’m quoting it below, including original punctuation and capitalisation:

2065 Australia has become a desolate land ravaged by war and chaos ruled by the “Night Wolves” - an evil dog army who seek nothing but power over the lands Using water and food to control the pack population. DR (Dingo Racer) is the last hope for survival. With nothing but courage, instinct and the “Alpha M” – a super charged Racer. DR must defeat the Night Wolves in “The Blazing Sun”, a one-in-50 year race with the winner becoming the “Alpha King”. This is a must-win for DR to save the pack population from certain peril.

The story has since been simplified to a Dingo attempting to escape from a Mad Max themed attraction, which is more accessible to the masses, if nowhere near as much fun. Fortunately the ride itself is respectable. It isn’t the easiest fit for adults thanks to individual lap bars that are buckled closed with a very short seatbelt, but I managed it with effort and a modicum of contortion. Corpulent readers will be pleased to know that stomach size is not an issue here; rather, it's the vertical height of your thighs when seated that matters. Once dispatched the ride delivers the expected classic Reverchon experience with the slight augment of the new turn. We managed three laps before moving on.

One slight negative about the park today is that a whole bunch of secondary attractions now carry signage saying that they are reserved for children. We spotted three (Bug Run, Speed Stars, and Bombora Bounce) and we were not actively looking, so there may well have been more. This new policy is unfortunate at best, especially in a small park that doesn’t have a huge number of attractions to begin with, and one that I hope is reversed in due time. We also missed out on the Ballroom Blitz wave swinger as it was temporarily closed due to staffing problems.

We made our way through both of the park’s walkthroughs – Mayhem Maze and Professor Bogglesworth’s Illusionarium – both of which I’ve written up in detail in my 2018 report. With those done we wrapped our visit with The Rev-Shed, a bumper car track with a divider in the middle forcing people to drive in ovals, and the Ferris Wheel, with cages around each car to stop loose objects being thrown.