GoGoBoy

Hey Flea I reckon you should just starting posting your pics on these forums like you used to. It always seems to take FOREVER for your updates to get done on ozcoaster

I like it. I like the fact that it all fits in well together and is not spread out haphazardly everywhere. Sydney NEEDS a water park like this and I reckon it'd be hugely popular. After a year or two though you'd definitely have to expand it

It looks like they won the award for their brochure only... nothing else that I can see. Wonderland is billed as a class 4 theme park (I think we discussed this before) meaning they receive 1 - 1.5 million visitors per year. Don't try and tell me they're not making money

Well personally I will be glad to see Taronga Zoo prosper over Wonderland these xmas holidays. Taronga truly is a great Sydney asset which is constantly investing in and reinventing itself. Then there's Wonderland; a park owned by a Malaysian company which doesn't seem to care that it's responsible for another Sydney icon... except for the fact that they can immediately profit by building a big ugly business park around it

The official reason for the disappearance of the lion cubs has been released... but certainly not by Wonderland. I found an article today regarding the cubs in the Spike section of the Sydney Morning Herald (edited by Peter Munro and Joel Gibson). For those of you that don't have access to that particular paper, here is the article: *** Lion Pride Dented Where, oh where, have the little lions gone? Three-month-old cubs Masai and Mara have had their school holiday stay at Wonderland Sydney cut short because of "permit problems". To be precise, Wonderland had neither the licence nor permit required to display the cubs. The Animal Welfare Unit of NSW Agriculture also found that Wonderland's "CUBby House" didn't meet "carnivore standards". Spike pities the poor children who missed out on supervised playtime with the cubs, but we bet their parents are pleased to have escaped the $199 fee for a 15-minute session. We're now worried about the fate of little Masai and Mara. A Wonderland spokeswoman said the cubs had been returned to their "original facility". Might they be wowing the kiddies at Steve Irwin's Queensland creche? ***

Um that's probably too close to call. They are both pretty crappy parks. Maybe the poll should be which park is the most dodgy. Both of them need more money spent on them. They both have great seaside/harbourside locations though. I would like the Scenic Railway if it wasn't so horribly, horribly, horribly rough (it looks good the way it borders the park). But the fact that the 1995 Luna Park had the Big Dipper which fitted in so perfectly well with the layout of the park (which is why it doesn't really work very well at Dreamworld) gives (gave?) Luna Park Sydney some extra points

I'm just wondering how the waterpark refurbishment went. Has much changed? It always looked very dated... has it been improved much? Or was it like the Wonderland waterpark refurb where nothing really changed at all?

I'm not sure about the ads but I noticed that all traces of info regarding the cubs has been removed from the website. I was wondering why they replaced the new cubs banner on the home page with a Tony Laffan banner... now I know

My contact at Wonderland told me that the lion cubs are no more. That's right... they've been taken away. Why? Nobody knows for sure. It is a bit of a mystery which WS is apparently trying to keep secret. Anyone have any more details?

How could no internal damage have been done? Didn't it start internally? How strange. Great to hear the ride is back open. Go Movieworld! Now we just need one of you guys to ride it and see if the end room before the splashdown is all ok with all effects still working (the big expanding barrel, smoke, wind)

Someone I know who works for the magic show told me that it will not be a ride or 4D attraction. It will actually just be a stage show. Don't know how accurate that info is but it is probably more likely. By the way what was the actual Marvel 'mini show' like Flea? Were there any stunts or special effects? Any soundtrack? I can't imagine it. My friend also told me that there is another 'mini show' when Hulk makes appearances now. Apparantley there is music and various effects (smoke, crashing stuff) when he first comes out. Did you see this Flea?

The crown (or hair as some people say) is probably still there, it is just hidden underneath the face. This is because they had to move the face up to allow construction equipment to get underneath. Once the park is finished they will bring the face back down to reveal the spiky hair/crown pattern

HussRainbow - I have a book called 'Luna Park Just for Fun' by Sam Marshall. It shows the concept designs and actual plastic model of the 1995 Luna Park before it was built. The Rainbow is featured in both the illustration and in the plastic model (it is just a simplified model). In the designs it is placed where the Ranger ended up standing. Also, I visited Luna Park in 1995. I noticed that behind the Ranger was a large backdrop/facade which had a rainbow (and some clouds?) painted on it. This was obviously meant for the Rainbow but they must have just left it when they decided to go with the Ranger. I would say that it was therefore a last minute decision. By the way I think the Rainbow would have suited Luna Park really well as you would get some great views facing the harbour. You don't really see anything in the Ranger!

I don't know why you say luna park isn't luna park without those rides. The majority of them were only brought in when the park re-opened in 1995. It wasn't even open for very long at all. They basically just renamed the rides with names from the old classic rides which used to live at the park for the many years before the ghost train fire. None of them are truly original or classic besides maybe the rotor and the wild mouse

hey guys don't be shy... forums are for sharing... bring on the complaints! i'm interested to hear what was wrong with the park on sunday. i'm starting to think that certain management cast their eyes over these forums from time to time so it's good for them to read about what is upsetting their guests. have there been any updates? how are the new 'interactive photo spots' and construction on the action arena going?

Yeah I agree with nightshifters post above. Definitely put in a drop tower - imagine the view from the top of one of those things, it would be awesome. You'd have to place it near the water so that it was away from the residents and facing the harbour. Take out the crappy, crappy old carnival rides (I mean seriously, what 'new' park would open with an old Tango ride?). I really don't like the Ranger either. And yes, it's true that the 1995 plans were to include the Rainbow (they even designed the facade and backdrop on site with rainbows) but for some reason they went with the Ranger instead... maybe this was the only ride available at the time. I think they should add in a couple of really awesome flat rides like Huss Giant Frisbee and Delerium. Seriously, if they did do this the park would most definitely compete with Wonderland even though it's so much smaller. Brand new state of the art rides versus out of date 18 year old (and in some cases even older) rides? No competition. Obviously this isn't going to happen though... the new Luna Park are keeping their wallets shut when it comes to their rides

Nicktoons Live is apparantley opening on Boxing Day. I'm guessing by the title that it will be some kind of stage show. Apparantley it is going to be held twice per day at 10am and 5pm. Very strange times... anyone know the reason for this? Perhaps it is to keep people in the park longer. The show should be good, it's got great characters like Spongebob and Patrick Star (sometimes I really wish I was a kid again!). According to the website the show will only be running for a month which I find a bit odd. I thought it would make a good permanent addition. What other kids shows do Dreamworld have at the moment? I've heard something about a Nickelodeon slime show thingy

This is fairly interesting news then isn't it? They never used to have all the characters out on buggies before. Did you actually see them out flea or did someone else take the pic? I'm just surprised you didn't mention it before. Surely it has something to do with the parade... perhaps it was a practice run?

Flea - the last pic is of Spiderman on a red buggy. Is this normal? What was actually going on here? I can see another buggy coming up behind him... were there other characters on buggies too? Is this part of the new parade (which I didn't think had started yet?!)

It annoys me a bit the way the park big notes itself by saying how wonderful they are for retaining all of the 'popular' and 'famous' luna park rides. The fact is that most of these rides are extremely basic 2nd hand travelling flats that were brought in for the 95 incarnation. It would be nice if they introduced some slightly more modern flat rides (like some of the new Huss stuff) or even some custom rides. But hey, once again, it all comes back to money. By the way the first of the supports for the wild mouse have started being erected so that is a good sign.

Ok, so what kind of show do you guys think it will be? Something along the lines of Action Man? What have you heard? Share your thoughts...

I really doubt that Wonderland is operating at a loss. They get over 1 million visitors per year which is about the same as Dreamworld (a park which makes a good profit). As I said before, it seems to me the money is simply being shipped back to Malaysia. If they were trying to operate the park at a loss they would stop marketing the park so much and stop producing new shows and events. There would probably be some sort of tax minimisation scheme going on though which is why there are multiple linked companies. The $1 million dollar remark regarding the Beach refurb is correct. It was a figure released by Wonderland. Why it cost so much to repaint a couple of slides I do not know. We should have at least got ONE new smallish slide for that amount!

Q. Where does the money go? A. Out of Australia and back to the Malaysian shareholders

I'm not very excited about this whole outback spectacular and paradise country thing either. It'll be great for the asians but maybe not so great for the rest of us who live here. Especially if it takes away precious capital which could be invested into possible new attractions at the parks.

Hahaha that's great Daniel! Such a good call. Sorry, I have nothing more to add. Don't you hate it when people make pointless short posts like this?