Gold Coast TR: Day 2 - Always hit on Soft 18?

• Author: Mike
• Filed under: Geeky, Reports, Theme Parks
• Date: Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Note: This was originally written on Febuary 17. A lack of internet access prevented me from posting it at the time, so here it is now.

After a loaded day one it was time to continue with our next park on the map – Warner Brothers Movie World. I rose at about 6am with sun shining through the blinds and decided to go for some more sleep. At nine I finally got up and saw that my sister wanted to go for some breakfast. Time for a warm shower, and since I wasn’t at home I could have a little bit of an extended one for a change. The downside was that the shower was shaped for a small elephant, low and high pressure. Felt like Kramer when he got his shower head replaced – you know, the head that is used for circuit animals. After I was done I lazily got dressed and surfed the net.

McDonalds was the plan for breakfast, so off we went. But because of my laziness we ended up missing out on the breakfast menu – sort of. My mum and sis were able to get hash browns but that was it, with mother taking a vanilla thickshake and a hot apple pie. Meanwhile I checked out the McCafe area and got an extremely nice Iced Chocolate with a apple and cinnamon muffin. My sis mixed and matched – frozen coke and a crosseon.

After the meal it was a short trip to Movie World. The carpark looked about a third full but Batwing Spaceshot was shooting riders into the sky. No lines anywhere, simply scan that ticket and in we went. Deciding to ride Batwing later in the day, we walked through a few stores before finally deciding on Scooby Doo’s Ghost Coaster as our first ride of the day.

The sign gave a ten minute wait, but it would be lucky if the wait was five. My sis and I grabbed the back seats of a car and away we went. The ride has not dated at all and is still the fantastic wild mouse with that killer first drop in reverse. Following the ride it was time for our first of many trips on Wild West Falls. After getting off Scooby Doo I noticed an influx of people coming into that area of the park and feared their would be a bit of a wait for WWF. Once through the queue it was clear this was non-existent, as we skipped through the long waiting area, right passed the non playing video (awesome, I hate those things) and then straight into a short line.

We grabbed the back row and placed that lapbar down. The boat was full of adults and sped through the course, finally delivering a great drop drenching me all over. But it wasn’t enough, so right through that queue again and we were off. This time we grabbed the second row and really got wet, catching most of the water shooting from that final drop.

It was time for lunch but we needed one more ride to dry out on – Lethal Weapon it is. I hate the ride myself but my sister seems to love it, so I’m prepared to suffer a little pain in the meantime. The queue was probably the longest wait we faced all day at about fifteen minutes, but the line jumpers ahead of us didn’t help matters. While the ride had a cute ride operator (even with a really odd British accent), it banged my ears around as if I was in a boxing match and I didn’t really enjoy it.

We had some lunch at Dirty Harry’s Bar and it was on to Looney Toons Village. We were going to give the river ride a go but they were only running it on the hour for some odd reason – so we gave Road Runner’s Roller Coaster a go. Not enough people in the line? That means I get my own car.. nice! Went around once and it was a blast so let’s go again? What’s this? Three people total in line? Instant re-ride without even moving.

I decided to grab a quick ride on the School Bus. It was simple fun for a few minutes. At this stage, it was decided that we would ride Batwing. Line? As if! We only had to watch one group ride and then we walked straight on. As for the ride, it was incredible. Amazing launch with a beautiful piece of airtime just before a freefall back down, followed by another smaller boost then drop. I couldn’t get enough of it and went for a re-ride straight away. The rest of the afternoon was spent re-riding Batwing, Scooby Doo and Wild West Falls.

We did take in the Shrek 4D show which was very entertaining and a fair bit better then the previous show. Michael, the ride operator clearly enjoyed his job, going around scaring riders and constantly cracking jokes. It was everything I liked about a day at a theme park: Little to no lines, decent but not overly warm weather and people weren’t pushing over each other to move around the footpaths.

We went back to the apartments at about 4:30 and watched some TV before going out for dinner. We decided to head down to Broadbeach for dinner and some low limit gambling. After parking we chose Valentinos and had an excellent meal, with some of the best cooked pasta that we have all eaten (I stuck with a veal parma which was pretty damn good too).

It was then on to Jupiters. After a mix-up at the monorail station where we managed to walk through the entire shopping centre without boarding a train, we finally got on. Just before getting on however we saw the weirdest office to see up here – a Crown Limited office! Decked out in the standard Crown look, it was totally out of left field, I guess they try and comp the guys who fly in from Asia and bring them down to Melbourne.

A short trip later and we made it to Jupiters. It doesn’t quite have the spectacular entrance that Crown has but I could deal with that. There was a show going on in the lobby with a few trapeze artists which we watched for a few moments before heading onto the gaming floor. We headed in and I looked around. The place is tiny, tables in the middle with poker machines all around the place. A lot of tables were just opening too, which chips being counted out.

I found the poker area. Four tables, all playing 5/10 Limit. There was a waiting list for 1/2 Pot Limit, plus 10/20 Limit so I decided to watch a hand or two before deciding not to play. First, instead of a rake there was a $1 fee for each hand, so all players seemed to have a stack of ten to twenty one dollar chips which I wasn’t a fan of. Also the play didn’t seem too crash hot so I figured if I was going to buy-in, I’d have to buy in at the max as I’d barely have enough for one hand. Six to seven players seeing a flop, with four to five players seeing a hand through to the river chasing draws before folding to a minimum bet. Not my kind of scene.

I walked around some more before sitting down at a Jupiters 21 (Spanish Blackjack) table. I read up on the game online and it seemed to pay out better then the standard game, mainly due to the dealer not taking a down card after dealing every player’s second card. $10 min bet, so I bought in for $100 and stuck to the minimum.

For some reason the dealer wouldn’t deal until their was at least three players? A few locals sat down and we were off. I go up and down for a yo-yo most of the night but I never drop below $70, setting myself a limit – if I get to $50 I’ll stop regardless. I get aces to a dealer’s five and ask if I can split – I can but I only get one card. I go through, get an three and a five, and of course dealer hits twenty. The player to my right tells me that I was unlucky and made the right play.

A local bets $2.50 on every perfect pair square, and hits it at least fifteen times, something I’ve never seen before. I get kings and queens twice in a row, and when I decide to stick $5 down on a perfect pair, I get five with a three. Rats. The same guy makes a boatload of money playing two hands when he hits two perfect pairs at the one time, plus a blackjack. Insane. For some reason I lose concentrating, hitting on soft eighteen to give me twelve, then sitting!? Dealer hits twenty anyway. A young Asian guy sits down near the end of my session and bets half his chips (about $30-$40) on the one hand. He gets six with a five and doubles down for the rest of his chips – out jumps a jack. My sister tells me later on that security were watching him, perhaps a bit of card counting was going on. I have enough and leave on my final hand with a blackjack and head out $55 in profit – two thirds of dinner paid for.

I cash in $150 of my chips and decide to keep the other $5 to go put bet on one spin of roulette. My sis throws in the other $5 and I ask her, “Red or Black”. She picks red, the ball spins.. 0. Rigged! With that done we head out of the place and I can’t complain that much, $50 in a session is pretty good for a game that requires no thinking.

We head back to the unit and watch some television to end the night. Everyone is tired, another full on day. Tomorrow we return for a half day at Sea World as my Dad flies in, with some shopping in the morning.