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I noticed on the Funfields park map that it states that the Go Karts are set to close in Feburary 2024. My assumption is they are being closed permantley and we could see new attractions built here in the future. However, do the go karts usually close earlier or maybe they are doing some work to them?

I recently got a chance to visit both Funfields and Gumbuya World in Victoria. This was my first time to both parks, so here are my overall thoughts and experiences during my visits. Funfields A 50 minute drive north of Melbourne, I arrived at the park around 9:45 for a 10am opening. The weather wasn't looking to great at arrival, so it was a very quiet start to the day. Not knowing much about the park (except for photos of new attractions that have opened in recent years), we started with a lap around the whole park to get a feel for it's layout and it's offerings. I was with two others who regularly visit the park, so it was cool to get a guided tour from someone who knows the park well. Walking through the Mystic Kingdom, it looked like a solid kids area, with a good variety of attractions. The two water play structures were reasonable, but I definitely think the park would benefit from having a structure like the one at WWW, but with the addition the WnW Jnr slides (more on what I think this park should add later). We then walked past Typhoon and the older slides of the park, before heading over to the more recent additions of the park. This 'Proslide Precinct' has been executed very well, particularly with the addition of the wave pool. We used the lockers at the back of the park and the seats by Volcano Beach before taking on the first slides. First slide of the day was Gravity Wave, as there was three of us, currently you can only have either two or four people ride. Even with two people though, what a fantastic slide this is. I haven't ever ridden a slide like this before (Kamikaze is probably the closest, but not really) and these are such a great slide. We did a couple rides on this as a group of two, but we found a single rider so we could do a ride with four. WOW. Four people on this just made the experience even more thrilling. And overall the attraction has such great pace, not a dull moment. Spoiler alert, this was my favourite attraction in the park. One of the GC water parks should absolutely get one of these. Next was Supernova, their newest attraction. While not entirely the traditional tornado slide, it very much had a similar experience. However, comparing to WWW and WnW this was definitely the better version. The flying saucer component, visually looks cool, but doesn't really add much to the overall experience. But overall the pacing of the slide, speed and drop into the funnel were a lot of fun. Next was Typhoon, which is very similar to the Little Rippers at WWW, but a much longer experience. I always enjoy the Little Rippers, so this version was even more enjoyable because of the extra length at the start before the drop into the bowl. We then did Wipeout & Blackout, these were more standard tunnel slides that you can ride as a single or double. Blackout was definitely my favourite of the two, purely because it was actually pitch black (not like Blackhole at WnW, but the former Terror Canyon's... total darkness). The remaining slides weren't opening until later in the day due to the lower crowd levels, so we walked around the remaining areas of the park. I was surprised to see so much area was dedicated to grass/picnic areas, but apparently that is a massive selling point for the park as you can bring your own food, have BBQs, etc in this corner of the park. The whole area looked to be really looked after and was so nice to see a park to offer something like this. The weather was turning for the better and it ended up being a beautiful day, which meant the crowds did start to increase. We went into the wave pool, which has also been nicely executed. It's not a massive wave pool and the volcano at the deep end could've been better to hide some of the trees behind (it just felt out of scale). We then went on the Kraken Racer and this was definitely the surprise of the day. The BRO at WWW is much bigger, but the speed you pickup in the tunnel on Kraken is insane. I went on the outer slide first, but the second go I did the inner slide and that was even more insane. Dare I say you even get the sensation of airtime coming out of the tunnel. I think this could be the best racer in the country (The only one that might beat it is the Octo Racer at Jamberoo, but I'm yet to ride that one). We then did the Splashdown slides, which are the oldschool sitdown mat slides; these are fine, but wouldn't be missed if replaced. We then did a few more rides on Gravity Wave & Supernova and then ended the day on the Toboggan. This was the first ever toboggan I'd done and they're definitley a lot of fun. Overall, Funfields is a fantastic park. It is very well looked after, all the staff were great, loading was efficient, the food offerings were very good value & quality (better than any of the GC parks). Their overall attraction lineup is really good and with another slide tower with a couple more sldies, that will really complete the park (and there is surprisingly a more land behind Gravity/Supernova for plenty more future expansions). I thing I haven't yet mentioned, but worth noting... the stairs to access the slides are very wide and comfortable to climb; they have really cared for the guest experience! And on my point earlier about building a larger kids splash area, I think the removal Bumpa Boats and utilising that land for some of the KIDZ ProSlide attraction would suit the park very well. With the go-karts set to close and the addition of a lazy river, that will be a great asset for the park and I look forward to seeing how they theme/landscape it. Funfields is definitely a park I would head back to and I can't wait to see what they have planned for the future. Gumbuya World An hours drive west of Melbourne, I arrived at Gumbuya World at around 11am on what was a very wet and cold Melbourne day. The entrance to the park is really nicely done and so is the walkway leading to the point where the park separates into its four lands. Again, not knowing much about the park (other than it's two coasters), I walked around the park getting a feel for it's layout. Being a much newer park than Funfields, it's overall masterplan is very beneficial to it's layout and arrangement of attractions. To start the day, we had to do the coasters. First was TNT, which was quite the surprise. Overall, it has been very well executed, with a cohesive and developed theme that is clear throughout the whole ride experience. The audio really adds to the experience and the little pieces of theming scattered (but well considered) throughout the on-ride experience is really well done. It actually surprised me how good it was. I'd say it's the third best themed coaster in the country (behind Leviathan because of it's queue and station and then Superman for it's pre-launch experience (Scooby would beat TNT, but Village ruined that ride)). And the coaster itself was such a great surprise. It's just a good fun coaster and depending on where you sit, it can be thrilling too. It's super smooth and the trains are super comfy (I hope Kenny's Forest Flyer can benefit from them one day). We ended up riding it about 8 times throughout the day in a variety of rows, but back seat was definitely the best! Next was Project Zero, the reincarnation of BuzzSaw. For me, this was always a one and done at DW and as expected, I still feel the same way. The ride has definitely had a lot of work done to it to bring it back to life, so kudos to the park for investing in it properly. The ride experience was much better than the last few years it had at DW, but it still wasn’t the smoothest ride. It’s nicely presented, but isn’t anywhere near to the level that TNT is at. We then walked around the rest of the park it see its offerings. There are quite a few flat rides on offer, but none were a stand out, except for Rebel (but not in a good way). That rides got to go. It’s very loud, obnoxious and kind of ruins the overall park experience when it’s operating. All the other flat rides, while fixed to the ground, feel temporary. They all look like retired carnival rides that they got for cheap to just build up the parks lineup. The animal area of the land was pretty impressive in its scale. There was a lot more to it than I expected and it’s been nicely put together. Despite the rain, we gave all of the water attractions a go. Unlike Funfields, the four attractions share the tower, but there’s only two queue lines between the four. So up end with the issue that WWW had with Green Room and Wedgie. Thankfully, due to the rain, we didn’t actually have this issue, but I can imagine on a nice day, the queue would be a nightmare. And the staff definitely weren’t as efficient as Funfields, so even a small queue took longer than it probably should have. Out of the four slides, the only notable one was the Boomerang, which was a less superior version of Gravity Wave. All the other slides were one and done for me (even if it was a nice day). The wave pool was much bigger than Funfields and is comparable to WnWs in its scale and large screen at the deep end. There was also a lazy river that went around (almost) the entire waterpark. This was very nicely done and one part had rapids which were enjoyable. After this, we did a few more goes on TNT and that was the day done. The food wasn’t outstanding, just standard theme park food and quality. One thing I noticed was that almost all the seating in the waterpark you had to pay for. There was the standard cabanas, but there was been wave pool seating that you had to pay for. There was some free, but it was very limited. I imagine in the summer, that park sucks a lot of money out of people because of the up charges. Something that I thought it was lacking was just overall attractions. Yes they had more than Funfields, but most of what they had wasn’t great quality in my opinion. TNT makes Gumbuya worthwhile for me, but they definitely need more water slides and a decent amount of flat rides that feel permanent. FINAL OPINIONS Overall, I had an enjoyable time at both parks and it was great to finally visit parks outside the Gold Coast to see how others run a theme park. For me, Funfields was definitely a standout. They had a great quality of attractions, good variety, the park was very clean, friendly and had quality. Gumbuya World was enjoyable, and I’m still blown away by how good TNT was. They did a fantastic job with that ride and I can’t wait to see what Movie World do with their version, because Gumbuya have set the bar high. For me, it’s the best family coaster in the country (Village can’t convince me that Leviathan is a family coaster) and if they keep it up with that standard, they have the potential to be a great park. They just need more. And I would definitely recommend checking them both out if you’re in Melbourne. My final score based off my first visit to both parks would be an 8.5/10 for Funfields and a 6.5/10 for Gumbuya.

Something I have noticed that has happened with rides like Toboggans and Go Karts at many parks in out country. The parks have speed limited them so you can’t go racing down the hill at maximum speed without brakes etc on a toboggan, or go very fast on a go kart. I personally don’t like how this has happened, as it takes away the fun aspect of the ride. Let’s take a look at some examples: First, let’s go to Funfields in Whittlesea which has many waterslides and rides for people to enjoy. Some of the rides they have are go karts and a toboggan track that goes down the hill. I went in February with 3 others and went on the toboggan. Even know I was going fast, it felt like I was going very slow, which is because the toboggans were apparently speed limited. I didn’t go on the go karts, but I was looking at them and Dad noticed they were going slow. Next, we will go to Adventure World in Perth that is very similar to Funfields, although they don’t have a toboggan. One of the rides they have are go karts. I haven’t actually been yet but I have heard they were also speed-limited like the ones at Funfields which makes them much less unenjoyable. Personally, I hate the idea of speed limiting attractions of rides where people can control their own speed. Back before it used to be really fun where you could go down a hill really fast on a toboggan, but now they are speed-limited so you can only go up to a certain speed. IMO I would rather a warning where the park states they would not pay for people hurting themselves by going too fast, rather than ruining it for the thrill seekers. My dad also agrees with me and hates that rides are speed-limited so much the fun is taken away. What do you think?

Time to do another "big" poll, this time with one of the most popular ride types in the country. Vote by Sunday.

So something I’ve noticed lately on various theme park podcasts and discussion groups is talk about the difference between regional “action/amusement parks” and theme parks. One notable example is a recent podcast episode I listened to that spoke about Gumbuya World’s new coasters. The hosts claimed that “Gumbuya has transcended it’s action park status and is now a proper theme park” with the addition of these two new attractions. I disagree with this statement. In my view, Gumbuya has always been a well themed park with dedicated “lands” and areas just as any legitimate theme park would and I’ve always classified it as such. I don’t think simply adding one type of ride should suddenly change the entire category the park is labeled under. Meanwhile, I’ve also seen other people claim that Gumbuya needs at least 4 or 5 more major attractions before it can be classed as a true theme park. So that’s got me thinking, what truly makes a “theme park” a proper theme park and at what point does a park like Gumbuya cross-over to become universally regarded as a theme park instead of a simple action park? Is it when a certain level of theming is installed? When a certain amount of rides and attractions are brought in? Does it matter what kinds of attractions the park has? Does layout have anything to do with it? There are parks like Adventure World and Funfields which have fantastic theming and story telling in their rides and tick a lot of the “theme park” boxes for me, yet I’m sure many still see them as action/amusement parks. At the same time, there are other parks that have coasters and big attractions but are widely regarded as simple amusement parks. To give my opinion, I see parks like Adventure World, Adventure Park, Funfields, Gumbuya World, Aussie World, Magic Mountain and Jamberoo as a unique “Australian style” of theme park (similar to how Europe and the US have distinctive styles of theme parks) as let’s face it, it’s what the majority of our parks are like and isn’t really replicated the same way anywhere else (particularly the wide open spaces and mashup of dry rides and water rides sharing the same space). I’m interested to hear your thoughts and opinions on this matter.

*Pic heavy thread* Hi all! Whilst in Melbourne, I decided to visit Funfields theme park to wrap up 2022 and figured I’d share my thoughts here. For those who don’t know, Funfields is located in Whittlesea (about 40 mins from Melbourne’s CBD). Opening in February 1985 as the “Alpine Toboggan Park” (that’s right, this park pre-dates Wonderland) it was rebranded as Funfields in 2005 and has seen rapid expansion ever since. The park no longer offers printed park maps, however a large sign containing the map (as well as a QR code that links you to a digital copy) is located near the entrance. As you enter the park, you are greeted with a large outdoor picnic area complete with barbecues. Funfields allows (and even somewhat encourages) guests to bring their own food and drinks and camp out on the lawn (multiple people even brought tents which are also allowed). Turning left leads you to the first themed land in the park; “Mystic Kingdom”, a children’s area with a medieval theme. The area features some impressive theming, including an interactive animatronic tree. The land is home to a series of flat rides for the youngsters, including an SBF mini drop tower, an SBF Airborne Shot, a ferris wheel, carousel, spinning balloon ride and a teacups ride re-located from Australia Zoo (most of which I forgot to take pictures of, opps)! I love the way this operator’s booth is themed. The “Burnout” (formally the “Stingray” from Dreamworld) was also located in this area, but has since been retired to the car park (apparently it’s for sale). Continuing through this area leads you to “Amazonia Falls”, the park’s interactive water playground with a jungle theme. Manufactured by Wizard Works, this attraction is quite unique in that it’s completely solid-state and uses a computer to activate the water effects, rather than relying on the traditional mechanical valve technology most water playgrounds use. This also allows for some pretty interesting effects such as motion activated fountain jets and “TNT detonators” (where pushing the plunger will cause water jets hidden in the surrounding splash pool to suddenly activate, soaking unsuspecting guests). The structure also has a “tipping bucket” of sorts, though it’s not really a bucket at all. Instead the “treehouse” simply dumps water on guests every 3 mins. A smaller, more traditional water play structure by Whitewater West called Birdy Cove is also located nearby. This attraction is designed for children under 6. Private cabanas are available to hire in this area as well. Moving further up the hill, we arrive at the Tiki Bay Bumper Boats (manufactured by J&J Amusements), one of the older attractions at the park, having been installed in 2004. Still as popular as ever. Behind Tiki Bay is the Typhoon, a Proslide Cannonbowl water slide advertised as being the longest of its kind in the world when it opened in 2013. Despite the many expansions and additional investments Funfields have made after its launch, Typhoon still remains one of my favourite slides not only in the park, but in the country! The sheer amount of speed you pick up in the enclosed section never fails to take my breath away. You absolutely FLY through this thing! That combined with the drop into the typhoon bowl itself and the suspense of not knowing if you’re going to complete the final drop facing forwards or backwards creates an incredibly fun and intense ride experience. A must do attraction when visiting the park! Next up is unfortunately the first stinker in the Funfields line-up IMHO, the Splashdown in-ground water slides. A flashback to the old “Alpine Toboggan Park” days, these slides were installed in the 80’s and quite frankly, that’s were they belong. Whilst they may have some historical significance, I wouldn’t mind seeing them be replaced with something a little more modern. Next are Wipeout and Blackout, two slides manufactured by Australian Waterslides and Leisure and installed in 2009. While they may have been somewhat overshadowed by their newer Proslide counterparts, these are still decent, fun slides that are worth checking out (especially Wipeout which lives up to its name. It has a tendency to launch riders over the final splashdown pool, providing a pretty thrilling finale). Now we reach the ride that started it all, the Alpine Toboggan. Despite being installed in 1985, this attraction still holds up extremely well today. The carts were speed-limited a few years ago due to multiple accidents when guests ignored the warnings to slow down on corners. Some believe that this has negatively effected the ride experience, however I was still able to get my cart up to a decent speed and had a very enjoyable ride. Perhaps it differs from cart to cart? Between the Wipeout/Blackout waterslides and the toboggan is a path that leads to the rear section of the park. Following this takes you to…The Voodoo! A very highly themed Zamperla Discovery Revolution. Funfields really went all out with the theming for this attraction and the attention to detail is amazing! The basic storyline is that your are exploring an ancient temple, looking for lost treasure. However, the treasure is guarded by an ancient Voodoo spirit named “Tawhirl”. Signs throughout the queue combined with an ominous soundtrack help to set up the story and prepare you for the experience ahead. Many props (lost items from previous explorers who attempted to grab the treasure and failed) are scattered throughout the queue and around the ride area. I love the attention to detail in this rock work too! It’s supposed to look as if the gondola has smashed through the middle. Then, as you enter the site of the old temple (or board the ride) Tawhirl becomes displeased with your presence and unleashes her wrath, picking you up and throwing you around (the ride swinging you around) to keep you away from the treasure. The ride experience is a perfect balance of being fairly intense, but still something the whole family can enjoy. A perfect addition to the park with simply excellent theming and a well executed storyline. I also really love how the theming from nearby Volcano Beach in the background perfectly matches up with Voodoo’s theming in the foreground here. Seems the park actually thought about sight lines which is pretty impressive! Speaking of which, Volcano Beach is the park’s wave pool and another very well themed area. I think I’ll let the pictures do the talking here: As you can see, it’s probably the most immersive and highly themed wave pool in the country. I absolutely love having the volcano as the centrepiece and that there’s plenty of shade around the beach area to relax in. It pumps out some pretty decent waves too! A cafe is also located in the area offering takeaway food such as chips, burgers and pizza as well as ice creams and lollies. Salads and even coffee is also on offer here (a larger cafe near the front of the park carries a similar menu too). Private cabanas surrounding the wave pool are also available for hire. Behind Volcano Beach sits the newest addition to the park, Supernova! It’s a shame this attraction has been largely overshadowed by the opening of Gumbya’s new coasters, as it’s the park’s biggest investment yet and is by far the best water ride they’ve installed to date. The pacing on this slide is fantastic. From the very beginning of the ride, you immediately pick up quite a lot of speed and navigate the first few turns at a pretty fast pace (this speed is maintained throughout the slide). The “Supanova” colour effects in the tunnel are very impressive and the fact you pass through them at fairly high speed really adds to the experience. Then comes a pretty intense drop into the main tornado (not sure if the drop is any steeper than other tornados, but it certainly feels that way) before taking one final turn and finally ending the ride in the splashdown pool. It may not come across in this write-up, but the slide is actually quite long in length and would have to be one of the most intense water slides I’ve been on (aside from maybe some drop slides). If I was to nitpick though, I would say the most disappointing aspect of the ride was the first “bowl” element near the beginning (not sure what it’s officially known as). I was expecting that you would spin around in this bowl or do something exciting. But nothing really happens. It’s just sort of there and you simply glide past it on one side and that’s it. Not really sure what the significance of it is TBH. Apart from that though, this is a sensational slide overall that is fast and thrilling and not to be missed! Next to Supernova is 2017’s Gravity Wave. I must say, the two slides weaving around each other looks very impressive from the tower. While Gravity Wave is definitely a decent attraction, I do unfortunately think it’s a bit of a one trick pony (at least compared to Supernova). The ride starts out incredibly slowly and meanders around until the main drop. While the main drop is still incredible and definitely worth checking out, Typhoon is still the superior slide overall IMHO, with Supernova beating them both by a mile. Still, having both Supernova and Gravity next to each other works really well and adds to a solid line-up in that area of the park. Next to Gravity wave is the Kraken Racer, a 4 lane aqua racer from Proslide. Another good addition to the park. The park is also home to Thunderdome Speedway, a go cart track installed in 1997 that still pulls in decent crowds today. Heading back towards the front of the park leads us to Treasure Cove, a pirate themed mini golf course. One of the holes even goes through a tunnel! This cemetery area reminds me of Movie World’s Boot Hill. In front of the mini golf is Sea World’s former Pirate Ship, Blackbeard’s Fury. Manufactured by Huss and added to the park in 2009, this attraction still rides beautifully and is well maintained by the park. It even has additional theming that wasn’t present during its time at SW. That covers all of the major attractions the park currently has on offer. All up, Funfields is a very impressive park that is well kept, well run and features a fantastic line-up of rides with decent theming and a great atmosphere. Other factors such as themed audio throughout the park, decent food, friendly staff and great operators add to a fantastic overall experience. I do feel like the addition of a coaster is very much needed to complete with Gumbya, though there is plenty of room for expansion, so hopefully this will come later. The water rides on offer are far superior to what Gumbya currently have though. So they easily have them beat in that regard IMHO. All in all, Funfields is definitely a must do park while visiting Victoria and is easily one of the best regional parks in the country!

Funfields' planning application has just been approved by Whittlesea Council tonight. Will be a multi-coloured tornado slide, which will share the same tower and splash pool as the Gravity Wave. No name or opening date yet but it's bound to open sometime in 2020. Great to see the continued investment. This will be their fourth ProSlide and their seventh overall. They have also applied for a couple of other permits (to better compete with Gumbuya IMO) which includes opening until 8pm on 7 selected days in January and a liquor licence for the wave pool area.

I really knew nothing about any of these parks in Melbourne until this thread made me do a bit of research. They are really starting to come into their own. It's interesting and very positive that a number of these smaller parks are now seeing the value in investing in major new attractions. Adventure Park in Geelong is about to install a Tornado and the ad on the website is up there on par with the GC parks in terms of design, as you can see. I've always felt bad for Melbourne for only having the very below average Luna Park, but it looks like things are on the up down there.

So I saw this on Facebook: Kenny Kemp: Any new rides Like · Reply · June 10 at 4:27pm Funfields Hi Kenny, we have a few new attractions coming to Funfields, they will be announced closer to our opening date! Unlike · Reply · 2 · June 10 at 4:39pm Anyone have any info or Ideas??

Hi, I noticed on the Funfields website it says: "funfields is now closed. we will re open bigger and better on saturday 19th September 2015" Is this an indication of a new Ride/Attraction coming to funfields? anyone have any info?