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I had the opportunity to go down to Melbourne in the past couple of weeks for work and I thought I would combine work with leisure and bring the family with me for a extended break. We had a jam packed time and fit in quite a lot in our stay. I decided to tick off a couple of the Victorian parks that I have never visited and I will present them here as a trip report with my musings on each for all here to enjoy. The parks and places that we visited included: Luna Park Melbourne Action Park , Geelong Funfields, Whittlesea We also visited attractions such as: Werribee Open Plain Zoo Sovereign Hill Melbourne Zoo The Melbourne Aquarium Amaze and Things, Phillip Island The Penguin Parade, Phillip Island ArtVo 3D Art Gallery and Southern Star Observation Wheel I will restrict my trip reports to the aforementioned 3 parks, but I might do an overview of the other places as there are some excellent experiences to be had. So onward to Luna Park Melbourne! Melbourne's Mr Moon is decidedly creepier than its Sydney counterpart. We did the park on a Saturday as the park is open until 11pm at this time ( like LPS,we wanted to experience LPM in the night. It was quite warm when we arrived at around 2pm and the crowds were quite large. It was around $149 for a family ticket of 4 however, thanks to a helpful work colleague, we had an entertainment voucher which gave us 25% off and this brought the total down just on $100. Good start so far!! It is worth noting that that the park now charges $5 for just entering the park, regardless of riding or not. They justify this by saying that it is helping to maintain their heritage attractions of the Scenic Railway, Carousel and Ghost train. If you buy a ride ticket or pass this is included in that price , of course. I don't doubt that these attractions are seriously labour and financially resource draining so to me, it seems like a reasonable request , for mine. The first ride we tried was the Spider. This is a Eyerly Aircraft Company example and these are becoming rarer and rarer these days. This type of ride debuted in 1967 and this unit is a typical example of its ilk. The operations on this ride were very slow as the ride was attended to by only one ride op. It was also hampered by the cycle before our ride where a rider was sick and it had to be cleaned up. Overall the ride experience was smooth and was quite an enjoyable experience. My son and I spun considerably in our car. The ride has been maintained well and it looked in good condition. Not sure if this is the same unit as once resided at Wonderland in its early days. I am sure one of you esteemed knowledgeable forum members can tell me! Interestingly , the Eyerly Aircraft Company went out of business in 1985 and the rights to their rides went to Oregon rides Inc. They are one of the more interesting ride manufacturers out there IMHO. We next rode the Twin Dragon, a Meisho Swinging ship. As far as I am aware, this is the only type of this ride in Australia by this manufacturer , and they are extremely rare elsewhere. The ride experience was ok, however they certainly do not match a HUSS unit in any way. More on that later though. We then rode the park's Enterprise, a unit which has obviously seen much use. It is a genuine HUSS unit(@HussRainbow87 will be happy about that! ) but its a unit that is in need of some love and attention. Still, the ride was smooth and as always, gives great forces. My son and daughter had never ridden this type of ride and they thoroughly enjoyed the experience. This is LPM's new cafe and function centre. It looks excellent and is 3 levels- the first level a retail cafe and eatery , the 2nd level a function area and there is also a third rooftop level for functions as well.The food looked good and we decided to wait until later in the evening to have dinner to try out its wares. Alas this was not meant to be, as LPM made the inexplicable decision to shut this ( and almost all other food outlets) except for The Diner car at 7pm. This is in direct contrast to LPS where all food outlets are open until close. The park could have made some serious dollars if their food options had remained open. Subsequently , we left the park to nearby Acland street for a quick meal to return to ride. An amazingly short sighted decision on managments part IMHO. The kids wanted then to ride the Powersurge and this is a fairly recent arrival at LPM. It was well presented and was quite popular with good sized lines throughout the day!! My daughter had to be talked into going on this with my son, but when she did, she loved it!! They ended up riding this 4 times throughout the day! We then lined up for the Hellerious Clowns walkthrough attraction. This is a experience that has stayed since Halloween, and although not as well presented as LPS's Mystery Manor, it was quite an enjoyable scare attraction. The scare actors werent quite as good as their Sydney counterparts and it required you to wear 3 D glasses but it was certainly longer than Mystery Manor. This attraction was only open during the day and shut at 5pm. The kids rode the Coney Shot Drop and the Pharaoh's Curse in quick succession. Both pretty standard park rides and fairly forgettable. The restraints on the Pharaoh's Curse were quite restrictive on the legs, making for an uncomfortable ride. The Ghost train is well presented but with very slow operations. Its a ride that of course has quite a history, as it is one of the few remaining Pretzel dark rides left anywhere in the world, having opened in 1935. Its old school fun inside and can get quite dark in sections but i think it desperately needs a refurb inside, with some of the scares looking quite tired. Also, the ride would benefit enormously from having live scare actors roaming the track but unfortunately , this is not allowed anymore. However, there is plenty of technology that could be utilised to enhance this ride and the overall experience. Of course the Great Scenic Railway was what we really wanted to see and ride and it was great to see it finally in action. This ride had 30 minute waits for the entirety of the day and was extremely popular with all ages. The only had one train in operation at any one time and the ride was down for about 40 minutes due to weather conditions. It was quite windy at this time and the train ( Red Train) valleyed after the first initial drop. It was quite amusing seeing 4 LPM employees scale the ride and walk to where the loaded train sat waiting. They then pushed the train to complete the circuit. To fix this issue, the park changed trains, (red to blue) and they completed several circuits with the maintenance crew oiling several sections of the track as they went. The ride then continued without any further stoppages. I am told this does happen quite regularly when the wind is blowing at the right angle. Fun times!! The blue train awaiting riders and also displaying the awesome mural on the back wall. The Scenic Railway station is a beautiful work of art in itself and is a pleasure to see and view. We then decided to ride the park's smaller family coasters, the Silly Serpent a Zamperla powered coaster, and the Speedy Beetle, an SBF Visa spinning coaster. This was the first time that I had ridden one of these types of rides and I must say I was pleasantly surprised. They are an excellent family addition to any small park and they pack a good punch in a very small footprint. This unit is the smallest option that SBF Visa offer but they do come in varying sizes. More on that later. Given that it does not get dark in Melbourne during summer until about 9:15pm, we opted to ride the Skyrider ferris wheel right on dusk. The view was magnificent looking out on Port Phillip Bay , riding as we watched the sun disappear from view, dipping below the horizon at last. It was a bit chilly due to the wind but an awesome experience and I would say a must do!! This Ferris Wheel has been in the park since the 70's and its quite a feeling to ride an open seating styled ride like this rather than the more common cabin style. This ride , like all Ferris Wheels , had to be carefully balanced in its riders. The other historical ride at the park is the magnificent 1913 vintage PTC carousel. This has just been restored after some serious downtime and money to get it back into operating status. Little known fact is that this is the only PTC carousel ever imported outside North America and is one of only 35 remaining. It was originally installed at Sydney's White City amusement park before fire destroyed this park ( perhaps a topic for another day?). LPM management bought it and transported it to Melbourne where it resides as the centrepiece of the park. Disappointingly, the 1909 vintage Pipe Organ was not running on the day. Of course this place takes on a new level when night drops and the lights are turned on. The park becomes a incandescent wonderland and the atmosphere is absolutely wonderful at this time. This it shares with its sister park in Sydney. There is nothing like going on rides on a balmy summer Saturday night. Brilliant! Interestingly , the Scenic Railway's trains are adorned with Blue LED's for night time action. The effect was brilliant and they looked amazing as the ride traversed its circuit into the night. The face does look much more inviting at night...... Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this trip report of a park not often reported on Parkz. LPM is a great place to visit for an afternoon, if only for the historical value of the Scenic Railway, the Carousel and the Ghost Train. Is is as good as LPS? Hmmm, thats a difficult one to answer. Both parks have their pro's and cons. LPM is quite a bit smaller than LPS but the Scenic Railway and its St Kilda setting is timeless. LPS does have the magnificent Harbour and bridge backdrop though to counter this. I guess we will have to wait and see what improvements are now brought to fruition for LPS. LPM does need some serious reinvestment to give it a lift- there are many things in the works and they are planned but of course financial backing is the key. We are incredibly lucky to have both LPS and LPM in Australia for us both to enjoy and they are significant in the amusement landscape and history of Australia.They cannot compete with the Gold Coast parks(nor are they meant to) but they deserve their place in our park lineup. My advice is get out there and enjoy them both

Busy day by the pool, today, with the temperature around the mid 30s. Goliath was out of action (although testing), Rampage is still down and tunnel of terror looked quiet. There were 10-15 minute queues on most things, which is manageable. They were also hosing the path down outside Kraken. Those misters on the queue line were great too. Luckily, I was there for rope drop and headed up soon afterwards.

According to the website Tunnel of Terror has reopend and is now just Goliath and Rampage that are closed for unscheduled maintenance.

The sx360 is completed just not open yet

Visited the park yesterday for the first time in about 2 years. First and most obvious change was the new signage and staff uniforms, matching the new logo. Very impressive! The significant attraction I hadn't used before was the scare maze. Much like others I've seen at Fright Nights, and Zombie Evilution at Dreamworld. The major difference being that the actors are laughing almost constantly, so it's a funny twist. Evil, but in a funny way! I like it! Professor Magoriums Wonder Emporium (if that's the name) was still my favourite attraction, the only difference being the staff member who greeted us at the entry was a bit of a Vicki Pollard (Little Britain), and whilst delivering the safety message, and ensuring we waited until previous guests had progressed far enough, did so in a very funny way! It's staff like this who really make the difference at theme parks between guests having an "ok" time, and a fabulous one! Overall park was fairly quiet considering it's Australia Day long weekend, possibly not helped by the 2 hour drive from the Gold Coast due to major roadworks. I suppose short term pain for long term gain. Saw one, or possibly 2 new rides under construction. No sign of a spinning mouse, and couldn't see any evidence of where the old Wild Mouse was. Tried to work it out, without success!

So Adventure World's Fright Nights event has now had information revealed. In a bid to attract more guest by having the event in the warmer period of the season the event will take place in February and March. Here is the link to the website page https://adventureworld.net.au/whats-on/fright-nights-2019 and they will be having their first ever maze attraction this year. Set against the night-time backdrop of Adventure World’s rides and attractions, with more thrill zones, interactives and live entertainment, pyrotechnics And the big one – not for the faint hearted.... Adventure World’s new Scare Maze.

I doubt it. It's been there at least 30 years. There's another motive there that they don't publish. The local area has a reputation for attracting some groups of youth who often cause trouble. This has been seen to keep those elements out of the park. One of the reasons for this is the low minimum height requirement to ride, which seems pretty random across the park. For example, my kid is 106cm. This means he is allowed to ride the Scenic Railway (with me), but is unable to ride Coney Drop (drop ride), the Twin Dragon (pirate ship), the Spider, the Dodgems, or the Sky Rider (Ferris Wheel). Really odd given he is able to ride the counterparts of at least the dodgems and the ferris wheel in other locations with me. I know it's about the restraints and all, but most parents just found it strange their little tackers were allowed on the big dawg roller-coaster but not the dodgem cars. 10m/s is the threshold apparently. I don't recall ever having heard it run. I dunno about that - it's pretty prominent. I'm not sure where you'd put it that's more prominent. The original location (which is where Pharoah's Curse is now) hidden behind the Disco Swing was the real afterthought. I too visited the park a couple of days ago. The Scenic Railway was an easy highlight and worth visiting for on its own. Power Surge was a welcome addition, albeit one of limited re-ride value IMHO. Pharoah's Curse I've never been a real fan of - it's uncomfortable, slow, and short in duration. The Enterprise is still a great, smooth ride (although it never fails to surprise me how many people are frightened off by the thought that it goes upside down). The "Holodeck" (simulator) attraction is a bit embarrassing for the park, and they really ought to either do it properly or replace it. The screen inside it is very low-res (the video it plays can be seen on a monitor at the ops position outside the ride and is good quality) and is full of dead pixels. The ride motion itself is uncomfortable, shows little resemblance to the video and is very noisy. The audio quality also needs work. One thing that struck me though was that with the exception of the Scenic Railway operations were incredibly slow. It seemed like ride operators were constantly coming and being replaced, and in the process of doing that it would mean all loading would stop for up to five minutes while the operators had a casual chat and a laugh about their plans for the remainder of the weekend. In other cases where two operators were allocated one would just hang out at the controls and the other would supervise unloading and loading solo. The park could also do with some drinking fountains around the place.

Jet Stunt Extreme Show II confirmed. Less jet, less stunt, less extreme, same show.

The Mods are free to divide this thread up into what they want. @Richard do your thing!

Thanks @Jobe for another excellent report. It's great to see people reporting on parks outside of the Gold Coast. I'm interested to see what you thought about the theming at Werribee too.

If you're moderating, you could do it for us. 😉

Shame they didnt splurge and get a Zierer.... will still look good in the area if it goes up there

Have never been to LPM. Would like to go check it out one day though despite it being small park, there are plenty of unique and rare types of rides in the park worth giving a go. I wonder how the AS-1 from ex Sega World Sydney is going over there?

@Jobe Glad the kids enjoyed the Enterprise... Can't really go past classic HUSS, agree about it needing some TLC, it was down for a while, while they waited for parts from HUSS, but glad its back up and running, it just needs better lighting on the sweeps, the middle cover and better placement in the park... it just seems like such an afterthought in its position.

Thanks for spending the time to create such a well written and comprehensive report. Your photos are beautiful - especially the nighttime shots. If you get a chance I would be more than happy to read about the other attractions you visited. Glad you and your family had a great time at such an iconic park.

A two-thirds open roller door, of which about the same amount is covered by a curtain, with no visual entrance indicator. I’m with the general public on this one.

Final night of AW Nights for the season was tonight. The car park was only half full and it wasn’t as crowded as last week. I didn’t manage to get there until after sunset. Rampage was down, but everything else was operating. The Grand Prix and Abyss had fairly lengthy queues of around 20 minutes. Our wait for Inferno was around 5 minutes. The food trucks and Kahuna Falls were doing really well. We did catch up with Ross a couple of times and shared some fries with him. Ross said that were surprised at how successful they were during the last couple of weeks with AW Nights. There were a few staff members conducting surveys too.

I'm the guy responsible for the production of the Sega World video. I probably sat there for about a year on and off producing the video. I made a second video with updates to what is going on in 2018. The statues that used to sit out the front of the park as photo ops are sitting in a junkyard along side the final Wonderland sign. I had a hand in trying to get them for restoration but the owner refuses to sell them, sadly. Wonderland's sign is there for $25k if anyone wants to buy it, though. It is an absolute crime how only the AS-1 ride stayed in Australia post closure, LPM have it at the minute. Ghost Hunters would have been a solid pickup for Dreamworld who had bought Big Dipper used from LPS around the same time. In fact most of the ex SW rides should have been looked at by our own theme parks if they wanted cheap new(ish) rides. On the topic of SWS 2 as Wil mentioned, I did touch on how it could happen in the new video. Probably would happen as some sort of 'retro revival' but I still don't see it being likely.

I've logged in after 7 years just to fountain vote his post.

AW Nights are back on in 2019. It’s going to be held every Saturday in January. https://adventureworld.net.au/whats-on/aw-nights-2019

I also think the back row is better than the front.

Does Abyss use different wheels on different cars or something? When I rode the other day (about 25 times) it seemed certain cycles got very head-bangy, especially when you pull G's through the dive loop, and others didn't

Y’know, you’re gonna start pissing off a lot of people if you start having an attitude of “well you’re not a moderator so it doesn’t matter what you say” No, im not moderating, @Richard won’t give me that much power. But I’m sure he would agree with me on my comment about the relevance of your posts in this thread turning it into an Adevnture World Mega Topic instead of its intended purpose which was to talk about MI4.... I’m sure Rich or another mod will happily let us know if the above is incorrect but that was my understanding of the forum guidelines around mega topics and derailing threads.

Okay, can we get a specific thread for Adventure World updates? This topic hasn't been about MI4 in a long time. It's just turned into a photo dump for every time someone goes there.

I didn't take pictures yesterday sorry!

Update from today

Dreamworld has stated I think that it will under go major refurbishment, in late 2019 with the upgrade of its Tower Of Terror that will be undertaken from its manufacture Intamin. In my dreams, Rocky Hollow log ride will get a new cave with theming elements returning from the old Thunder River Rapids that was demolished late 2018. I super duper wish that White Water World will see an expansion of a lazy river, during this time faded attractions will also be undergoing a repaint with Super Tubes hydro coaster already been carried out. In my wildest dreams Sky Voyager will be opening shortly.