Tuesday 15 December 1998

Australia's Biggest Ride to Open at Warner Bros. Movie World

Australia's biggest theme park ride is set to make a huge splash at Warner Bros. Movie World when it opens on December 26 1998.

The $18 million dollar Wild Wild West adventure ride spans a massive 2.8 hectares at Warner Bros. Movie World's themed Western Town area, increasing the size of the park by 20%.

Wild Wild West will take riders on an action-packed six minute adventure into the wild west with more than a few surprises and thrills along the way!

Definitely a ride for cowboys not cowards, Wild Wild West will use state-of-the-art lifts, drops and a never before seen reversing element to create a thrilling experience the whole family can enjoy.

Over a million litres of water will propel riders past ghost towns, geysers, wagon trains and an 'exploding' bridge to put you right in the middle of a western movie set.

The journey leads into a massive man-made mountain, 35 metres high and 420 metres around the base.

Wild Wild West saves the biggest surprise for last - a 70 km per hour, no brakes, 20 metre heart-stopping drop to the final splashdown!

Warner Bros. Movie World General Manager Peter Burrows says creating Wild Wild West is a massive undertaking, involving more than 300 people in the construction project over a period of six months.

"This is the biggest, single investment in a theme park ride Australia has seen to date and a multi-million dollar boost to the tourism industry on the Gold Coast," Mr Burrows said.

"We're very conscious of the need to give visitors new reasons to holiday on the Gold Coast and we're confident that Wild Wild West will draw tourists from throughout Australia and overseas to the region," he said.

Wild Wild West will be the second major attraction constructed at Warner Bros. Movie World in as many years following the launch of Looney Tunes Village in December 1997.

Mr Burrows says the strategy to create new family-based attractions has been a successful one for the theme park.

"Looney Tunes Village continues to deliver new visitors to the park due to the universal allure of the Looney Tunes characters and the broad appeal of the rides and shows in the village," Mr Burrows said.

"We've had nothing but glowing reports about the attraction from our guests, particularly from those with young children.

"At the same time, we also launched the 3D adventure, Marvin the Martian in the 3rd Dimension, which has proved an enormous draw card for guests of all ages as well," he said.

Monday 14 December 1998

Dreamworld and Michael Edgley's All New Moscow Circus

An added Christmas bonus for guests (included in the normal price of admission) will be ‘Dreamworld and Michael Edgley’s All New Moscow Circus’ featured four times daily from 26 December to 24 January 1999. Presented under the “Big Top”, there will be 16 of the world’s most spectacular circus artists performing inspiring acts, fearless feats and traditional family favourites - clowns, jugglers, trapeze and high-wire artists. Headline acts will include “The Phoenix Flyers” on the flying trapeze, “The Great Fattini” displaying his agility and balance atop the sway pole, the Alegria brothers and their “Giant Wheel”, the daredevil motorcyclists in their “All New Globe of Death” and “The Man in the Bottle”, Hugo Zamoratte.

Dreamworld's New Thrill Ride Claims Three World Firsts

The Queensland Premier, Mr Peter Beattie today witnessed the biggest fall in his political career after launching the tallest free fall ride in the world at Dreamworld.

The Giant Drop, Dreamworld's new $12 million high-tech thrill ride created three world firsts on its maiden despatch.

Aside from being the tallest free fall ride in the world, The Giant Drop has created structural design and construction history for rides of this type, sharing the physical tower that supports the fastest, tallest rollercoaster in the world - the Tower of Terror. The dual 8-seater gondolas are being used for the first time on a ride of this height and design.

Peaking at 119 metres high, passengers experience the exhilaration of falling from 39 storeys at the speed of gravity (up to 135 kilometres per hour) aboard one of two 8-seater gondolas. Until now the tallest ride of this type was the Blue Fall in Hakeijima, Japan which is 107 metres high.

Mr Beattie joined Mr Lawrie Stapleton General Manager of Dreamworld’s listed owner, LeisureWide Property Trust, Dreamworld Chief Executive Officer Mr Fred Maybury and invited guests for the official launch and ride preview experiences.

Commenting on the world first coups, Dreamworld CEO Fred Maybury said new state-of-the-art rides and attractions such as The Giant Drop benefit Dreamworld, the Gold Coast, Queensland and Australia as a tourist destination.

"Tourism, the local economy and theme park visitors are the winners - being able to experience the world’s most technologically advanced rides and attractions in Australia".

Mr Maybury said the Tower of Terror which opened in January 1997 and set the world speed record for rollercoasters was engineered with the opportunity to develop a second ride from the Dreamworld Tower.

"This Christmas guests will be able to experience the best of both worlds - being blasted skyward on the Tower of Terror at speeds of up to 160 kph and free falling downward from 0 to up to 135 kph."

The commissioning process on The Giant Drop will continue up until Boxing Day but the ride will be operational at intervals leading up to December 26 - the start of the Christmas holiday promotion period.

The Giant Drop will add to Dreamworld’s Triple Thrill Christmas line-up which includes four shows daily of Michael Edgley’s All New Moscow Circus (26 December until 24 January 1999. Extended hours 9am to 6.30pm) and the arrival of Tiger Island’s first Bengal tiger cubs.