Bussy

We used to go on the slides at the beach after it had closed for the day and do things like use food trays (which didn't work very well), also head first down the freefall slide or two people at a time. There were several Butcher Birds around the park that liked to swoop people (like Magpies do). One in particular lived around the rainbow on the hill at Zodiac and one morning a certain operations manager was walking up the hill doing a park walk before opening, she was talking to the cleaners on the radio (she also probably had the mobile to her head, cigarette in the mouth and a coffee somewhere there too), when the bird came down from behind her and clipped her ear causing her to scream while broadcasting and drop the radio. Everyone on the channel heard and pissed themselves laughing. We used to hold onto the outside of Zodiac as it was lifting and drop off about 2 meters off the ground the people in the carriage would have no idea what was going on. Or we would pick who looked the most frightened and give the carriage a big spin as it got off the ground. I can still hear the screams. "The Bus is now leaving for Butcher Bird Battery, Western Australia"

Alex was that directed at me? If you read what you quoted I know who Superslueth is. "The Bus is now leaving for Fort Direction, Tasmania"

I remember that Daniel I had to stand down the bottom of the stairs for most of the day and tell people the obvious, all I did was turn and point when they asked me why the ride wasn't operating, it always amazed me how stupid people were, you would get the same people coming back again and again while the train was still stuck asking the same question. Wazza considering I was the operator of Demon when the cable snapped I think I have a fair understanding of what happened and how close not only myself but the guests in the rear carriage were to getting hit by the cable, how close the train was to stopping in the boomerang and how brown my pants were after it happened. There were large metal rollers that the cable sat on under lift one several of these were bent at right angles which give you some idea of the force. When I called it in to security I told them that the cable had snapped, when the supervisor called me to ask where the cable had snapped he thought it was the back of the catch wagon, when I told him that it had snapped somewhere near the winch he quickly hung up and the next thing just about everyone was at the ride, all of the ride supervisors, the operations manager, security, first aid, maintenance. We used the get pretty quick responses 61 Charlie calls but that was amazing. Mickey the magnets were able to work during a power failure so they were not electro-magnets. "The Bus is now leaving for Snap Creek, Victoria"

How do we know? For one thing I remember him from the maintenance department. I also worked there. I know there are several people here who can attest to that. "The Bus is now leaving for Workman Well, Western Australia"

Thanks Wazza. As Wazza said Demon getting stuck on lift 2 or at the bottom of lift 2 was common. I remember the last cable snap on Demon very well. It was very luck that no one was hurt, including the operator. The funniest thng that happened not just on Demon but on all rides was someone spewing. It was even better on Demon because you could see exactly who was going to spew as the train pulled into the station and there was nothing you or the guest could do to stop them getting covered in it because 99% of the time they would still be locked in when it came out. "The Bus is now leaving for Hurley Heights, NSW"

I'm still trying to decipher the first post. But yeah good times were had. I remember the shifter on Space Probe and the hole it left. We used to scare guests by getting a bolt and pretending it had come off the ride (Probe, Demon or Bush Beast) as the ride was dispatched. It was usually the mothers who would give us heaps when they got back but could always see the funny side. I could go on for pages and pages with crazy stuff we did or saw. "The Bus is now leaving for Crazy Corner, Western Australia"

I used to go to Port Stephens all the time, and therefore drove past Tomteland all the time. I stopped in there once to have a look and pretty much walked in, turned around, and walked back out the prices were so bad. They were just about on par with the Easter Show. Last time I drove past there was a couple of months ago and it had been several years since I had been past it and I was suprised at how much it had declined. I think the only "rides" left were the water slides pretty much everything else had gone. Anyway if you drive about 30 minutes further on into Port Stephens you can go on the toboggans which are jolly good fun. "The Bus is now leaving for Toboggan Hill, Queensland"

Or yours. It was a good ride to operate, I had a heap of fun doing it. "The Bus is now leaving for Heard Island"

$25 for 30 minutes is not to bad for an attraction like this. When you compare it to the London Eye it's a bargain. The London Eye will cost you a minimum of £13.50 up to £29.50 to go on the London Eye. That equates to roughly $34 for the cheapest "flight" and a staggering $74 for the "champagne flight". If you ever get to London I recommend going on it. If you get a clear day as I did you will have a fantastic experience. "The Bus is now leaving for London Bridge Lookout, NSW"

I'm really undecided on this topic as I can see good and bad points for both sides of the argument. T-Bone I can see why some people on these forums give Luna Park a fair bit of flack, some of the decisions made by the management in regards to what rides they have, where they are located etc have been bad, the Merry-Go-Round is a perfect example of this. GoGoBoy in regards to the six points you made about where $100 million was spent, they are all options that bring revenue into the business and like it or not that is what business is all about these days. Yes they should have purchased the Merry-Go-Round instead of buying some cheap plastic model. It will be very interesting as to where Luna Park heads in the coming years but I think there will always be a "amusement park" of some sort on the site (unless global warming raises the worlds ocean level enough to cover it, I guess if that happens the residents above will be happy, no more noise and an absolute water front apartment). "The Bus is now leaving for The Warm Corner, NSW"

I think it is actually just how the light is hitting the purple. I don't remember the whole ride being painted with red oxide, small parts were where there was some rust, but the majority didn't have it. "The Bus is now leaving for Purple Top Creek, NSW"

I think they should install airport style security measures to stop things like this happening. I mean a $1 coin for gods sake do you realise how much damage that could have done to someone or to the ride. If I were you I would be thinking seriously about filing a lawsuit against Movie World as there was a potential for someone to die. "The Bus is now leaving for The College Of Law, NSW"

Because I could Gazza, and you can do it to just take any picture, edit it and and a c in a circle and your done, no problem at all. GoGoBoy there is no way a local council (or state governemt) can stop a company deciding to sell up. That's like the RTA telling you that you can't sell your car because it doesn't suit them. "The Bus is now leaving for Blacktown Council, NSW"

I found these articles in the local News Limited newspapers (Penrith Press and Mt Druitt Standard). The articles are both pretty much the same just with a little bit different towards the end. "The Bus is now leaving for Newspaper Creek, NSW"

The trains are definitely not there, they were visible from the road the previous time I was up there but not now. I understand what you are saying about the weeds but to tell you the truth I was surprised at how little the area was overgrown. I can always go back and take a walk into the paddock to make sure but I’m satisfied that the trains are no longer on the site. "The Bus is now leaving for Weedyabregan Lagoon, NSW"

Yeah the ad has the price per carriage not per train. Dj, I drove past there a couple of weeks ago and went up the road that leads to the quarry where you could see where the trains were stored and there was nothing there. The buildings that were used for the Out the Back show were there but all the ride parts and shipping containers were gone. As for the car park the piles of crushed concrete are getting bigger. Car park 2 which did contain the head office for the construction of the M7 will soon be able to be worked on as all of the demountable buildings that were being used have been dismantled and are waiting to be removed from the site. "The Bus is now leaving for Quarry Arm, NSW"

I don't know where you go that figure from but the only figure I saw was $2000 per carriage that means $14,000 for the whole train. As for refurbishing a carriage or two into a couch, do you remember how cramped and uncomfortable those carriages were? And that was just sitting in them for 2-3 minutes I couldn't even imagine how uncomfortable that would be for 10 minutes or longer, unless of course you are a midget or short arse. "The Bus is now leaving for Devils Couch, Victoria"

If you look at the Beastie ad you will see that the carriages cost $2000 each. There are 418 members on this site with 1 or more post. That means if everyone chips in $4.78 you can have one carriage, which is pretty pointless because without a TRACK a roller coaster carriage has very little point. "The Bus is now leaving for Costin Reserve, NSW"

There is a difference between getting proper permission (from park management not ride operators) and sneaking a camera on a ride is vastly different and is an insurance issue. I know of operators who did work at Wonderland who lost their jobs because they allowed cameras on rides and got caught. While the risk for damaging the ride are slim to none (the ride will probably only be out of action for a short time while they replace the wheel), this risk to yourself, fellow riders and onlookers is fairly high. I have seen a person with a fairly bad laceration that was caused by a baseball cap hitting someone in the face whilst on the Demon, and that was just a hat imagine what a camera would do. I have also seen people come very close to being hit directly on the head by a mobile phone that fell from Bounty's Revenge whilst the idiot owner was making a call on the ride, I have seen countless phones smashed or drowned at that ride. "The Bus is now leaving for Smashup Creek, Queensland"

Ibot I think you have been directed to this before, but it doesn't hurt to have another read, especially after that disgraceful opening, http://www.roller-coaster.com.au/guidelines.php As for Old Sydney town I remember visiting the park years ago when I was in primary school and learning about Australian colonial history. From memory it was ok, but it was based on Australian history so was extremely limited as to what they could do. As for the future of the site, it may be feasible for another ride based theme park but may have some problems with the location, basically being in the middle of a bush fire during summer. Besides that it would grab the tourists heading north during holidays, and is close enough to Sydney to get the day tripping tourists, both domestic and international and if it went into partnership or adjoined the reptile park that would be even better. "The Bus is now leaving for Sydney Heads Pass, Western Australia"

While this movie is not the most accurate (what movie is, just look at the trailer for MI:III, the director needs a lesson in physics for that one but that is another discussion), it does make a valid point that I have been saying for years, loose items (pretty much anything) plus a ride (pretty much any) is not a good combination. Yes the chances of a full derailment is extremely low just look at what happened when a hat lands on the track. That caused 3 carriages to hit each other and cause some fairly serious injuries. I just re-read your comments Adam and if that is true then Disney obviously doesn't value the safety of the other riders. "The Bus is now leaving for Lost Hat Tarn, Tasmania"

Kool, it most certainly did happen on a Saturday night and from memory there were no park services people involved. It happened fairly early in the night and I ended up talking to Police, Security and management for about 3-4 hours before I went back out into the park for the last half hours or so of trading. I remember when I would do the morning park walk and re-set of Bush Beast when maintenance would still be working on the ride. One would go on the ride, another operating and a third would stand near the bottom of the back curve drop with the fire hose on. Needless to say the train came back sparkling clean and the maintenance guy rather wet. And WnW Rocks, that happened right up to when the park closed . "The Bus is now leaving for Sparkling Island, Western Australia"

I had to bring this topic back up again. For those of you who have been members for a while you will probably remember my war on taking loose items, particularly cameras, on rides. I thought it was only fitting to bring it back up again with the release of Final Destination 3. Have a look at the trailer, and for those of you who couldn't be bothered or are on dial-up, basically a group of teenagers go to a theme park and some decide to go on a roller coaster. The ones who do go on the coaster die due to an accident, the reason for the accident? Someone drops a video camera during a loop and it becomes wrapped around track below and causes the train, eventually to de-rail and kill everyone. I couldn't be bothered going back to find the old topics in which this has been brought up before but for those who are fairly new to the forums you might want the go back and find them and have a bit of a read before replying. "The Bus is now leaving for Destination Creek, Tasmania"

It was very possible for people to get themselves out of the ride, or at least partially stand up whilst the ride was going. I remember one time when I was operating 2 guys who were about 15-16 stood up for most of the ride. After the train came back and a small confrontation with myself and security they were both arrested by the police. And it's not just teenagers or kids that can do it I have seen moronic adult, probably in their 30's, do the same thing. "The Bus is now leaving for Police Bend, Victoria"

Personally I think it would be a bad idea to use the Wonderland name as it may hold a bit of a stigma with some people. Why can't you come up with an original name of your own? Come up with something that has no similarity to any other park in the world and make a name for yourself. Why not something like "Ibotland", hang on the phone is ringing, its Will Smith wanting royalties. "The Bus is now leaving for Namelcatchem Well, Western Australia"