Cyclone - Dreamworld's newest roller coaster.
It began its life as 'Big Dipper' at Luna Park in Sydney, where it was highly regarded by almost all who rode it. Unfortunately for Sydney, next door to Luna Park was a group of residents who lobbied against the ride, citing noise concerns. The ride soon after became closed except for special events. In May 2002 it was sold to Dreamworld to begin its new life on the Gold Coast.
It is the biggest roller coaster to be moved in Australian theme park history (weighing 10000 tons like anyone cares), and opened as the most anticipated new roller coaster since Tower of Terror.
So what of the ride itself? Well I can attest that the ride itself is allot of fun, and well worth a ride, but the operation leaves a great deal to be desired. The ride operates at a capacity of around 300 people per hour -200 less then its target capacity - and has the most ill-conceived queue house in Australia.
The problem is that Cyclone is a custom coaster, and at its new home the layout of the ground is much different, and the station ends up around 20 meters above the ground. To get guests up that height Dreamworld constructed a queue that goes around in circles, but progressively higher with each loop (I know that doesn't make sense, but its kinda difficult to explain).
The bottom line is that to ride the Cyclone, guests have to budget around 5/10 mins (depending how fast you are) of walking through the queue and exit, and an extra 10 mins to get on the ride.
The ride itself is great, and while it didn't 'blow me away' it did provide a great thrill, which I'd recommend to anyone passing the Gold Coast.
So How does Cyclone compare to Other Australian rides? Well consider this, Cyclone is the:
4th fastest at 85km/h
2nd tallest at 40m / 121'
2nd longest at 900m long
Equal 3rd for number of inversions 2 (one Side winder, one vertical loop) |
