Sea World Monorail trains to be destroyed

[Jamberoo Fan]

The below article from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation includes an ABC News story of the opening of the Sea World Monorail System in August 1986. It is brilliant historical footage featuring clear imagery of Wild Waves Rollercoaster/Thrillseeker, Adventure Island, the construction of Lassiter's Lost Mine/Bermuda Triangle show building as well as general aerial imagery of Sea World:

Quote

Sea World monorail future unclear after carriages removed from Gold Coast theme park to be destroyed

ABC Gold Coast / By Tom Forbes

 

Posted 34m ago

Key points:

• The Sea World monorail was the first to be built in Australia
• The ride was closed due to its proximity to the Leviathan Wooden Coaster which is under construction
• The Broadbeach monorail closed in 2017

Australia's first monorail opens at Sea World on the Gold Coast in 1986 (Archives: ABC News)

The future of the Sea World monorail remains unclear after the carriages were removed from the Gold Coast theme park this week.

The $3 million ride opened in 1986 and was the first monorail to be built in Australia.

The popular amusement had been running on a 2 kilometre circuit between the theme park's entrance and the Sea World Resort.

A Sea World spokesperson said the monorail was closed to the public due to its proximity to the new Leviathan Wooden Coaster, which is under construction.

The timber ride is due to open to the public on September 3, but it is unclear whether the monorail will reopen.

The Sea World monorail operates on a 2 kilometre circuit.(Supplied: Sea World)

A spokesperson for the Village Roadshow Theme Parks said they had no update on the monorail's future.   

The carriages were removed by Adrian's Destruction Services this week and a spokesperson said they would be destroyed and not onsold.  

The mothballing of the theme park ride means the Gold Coast no longer has an operating monorail, with the Broadbeach system closing in 2017.

Sea World's Leviathan Wooden Coaster is due to open on September 3.(Supplied: Sea World)

The Broadbeach monorail opened in 1989 and ferried passengers between the Oasis Shopping Centre and Jupiters Casino.  

The carriages have been stored in an Arundel trucking yard since the monorail was decommissioned five years ago.

They were recently advertised for sale for between $2,000 and $4,000 for each carriage.

One potential buyer told the owner they were interested in converting the carriages into holiday accommodation. 

Posted 34m ago

This photo also appeared on the ABC News Just In webpage (but not in the article above) but I have no clue if it is a new photo or not. If someone can confirm how old the photo is, that would be great:

Edited May 5, 2022 by Jamberoo Fan

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I saw the posts by the demo company last night, but they were captioned 'out with the old, in with the new'. Take from that what you will, but that suggests to me that they've gotten new trains.

Given as we understood it, the existing fleet was aging, cannibalised parts to keep at least one in service, the fleet was definitely past it's prime. If Sea World springs new trains on us, it will be an amazing surprise they've managed to keep it under wraps this long into the plans. 

I do hope we see a MkII train, integrated air conditioning, and all the modern safety features you see in today's transport. Village execs assured everyone when Monorail was taken out of service for construction that it would return. I do hope that they honour that promise.

[themagician]

I do hope they aren’t removing it for good because that will be the biggest let down after they stated several times that it definitely would return. Hopefully new trains means they have aircon 

[New display name]

Someone should tell SW the demo company can remove flume rides aswell.

[DJKostya]

TBH I think now is probably the best time, if Sea World intends to keep the monorail, for them to upgrade it. Get some new trains that could increase capacity, are more efficient to run or even go the whole hog and try for a fully automated monorail without drivers.

Edited May 5, 2022 by DJKostya
Typo

[New display name]

What would be the point of spending money to remove the trains, right now, if SW weren't replacing the trains?

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Considering all options - perhaps they want to demolish the track, and they needed to use the track to get the trains out of the park first? #YouAsked.

Seriously though, I can categorically rule out the loss of the monorail. How do I know? Because Bikash told us we'd hear it from them first:

  

On 05/04/2020 at 10:31 AM, Park Addict 93 said:

But Sea World chief operating officer Bikash Randhawa dismissed the suggestion that Australia’s last monorail was closing as “rubbish”.

“If we were doing anything, you would hear it from us,” he told the Bulletin this morning.

“It’s rubbish and we are focused on other things right now.”

 

[New display name]

Maybe SW are changing to diesel trains.                /S

[Coasterjoe]

My moneys on new trains, the Monorail is pretty much the last remaining ‘heritage’ attraction left at Seaworld it would be a damn shame if it was decommissioned.

On the topic of heritage attractions, has there been any whisper of future plans for Vikings Revenge yet? It just grinds my gears every time I visit the park, just sitting there using up all that wasted space. I heard a rumour that SW plan to get Intamin in to refurbish it, but I am not holding my breath.  Personally it would be great to see the space used for a new precinct or a dark ride. 

[Naazon]

Sea World has one of the most beautiful natural locations. I think a dark ride at SW is wasted.

[Coasterjoe]

3 minutes ago, Naazon said:

Sea World has one of the most beautiful natural locations. I think a dark ride at SW is wasted.

I agree about the first part, there is already plenty of current and upcoming attractions that take advantage of this. But the immersive experience of indoor attractions is still great, I personally love walking into the penguins, or the jellyfish, or the underwater viewing of shark bay, its like walking into another world.  Its about diversity and creating immersive experiences. An underwater adventure dark ride would be a smash hit imo. 

[New display name]

22 minutes ago, Coasterjoe said:

It just grinds my gears

They have oil for that.

[Coasterjoe]

Just now, New display name said:

They have oil for that.

Not at my age 😂

[Baconjack]

1 hour ago, Naazon said:

Sea World has one of the most beautiful natural locations. I think a dark ride at SW is wasted.

If it’s well presented externally and integrated into the park then no it isn’t a waste. A friendly reminder this is the park that had Bermuda Triangle

[trevorfromaustralia]

It would hard removing   the track If they were gonna do it they would demolish the when they were building  The new  Area of the park my money is on getting new trains getting new trains from "Intamin Transportation  https://www.intamintransportation.com 

[Slick]

I'll have a presumptive stab in the dark on this one - we know the trains were on their last legs for years, and simultaneously they’ve gone to great lengths/expenses to maintain the track and build a wooden coaster around it. Therefore, it's a safe bet to assume that what @Bikash Randhawahas said in the past is likely still true. Perhaps someone can reach out to the park and ask?

7 hours ago, Naazon said:

I think a dark ride at SW is wasted.

Is Penguin Encounters or the Jelly exhibit thing wasted space because it's indoors?

[Whombex]

7 hours ago, Naazon said:

Sea World has one of the most beautiful natural locations. I think a dark ride at SW is wasted.

A 'day' at the park needs balance out of the sun. Some queues are under cover, some animal exhibits too. A dark ride would help on that as well. Obviously I mean the queue, as ride experiences are usually only a few minutes.

[Naazon]

10 hours ago, Slick said:

Is Penguin Encounters or the Jelly exhibit thing wasted space because it's indoors?

Someone up further said the same about shark bay. They are aquatic themed exhibits that you can move through in your own pace and not forced to wait 1+ hours for a 1minute ride. Shark Bay specifically is a bad example to call out against my comment cause the upstairs portion is enchanced by the location. The fact you can go downstairs is added bonus that takes nothing away from the space or attraction.

 

My comment was more on a whole dark ride. In my opinion the reason you would want a dark ride is to control the whole environment but as I said before, I think doing that at SW wastes the best natural environment I've ever seen at a park in the world.

Storm Coaster has that indoor element, but the main attraction of the ride and peak of the hight gives awesome views across the park and water.

I get people here get hard for old Bermuda. Sure it's a great ride, I'm not saying it wasn't. My point is i would prefer open air, but it's also gone so 🤷‍♂️

 

And I'm also not saying you can't have shade from natural or unnatural methods...

[Coasterjoe]

3 hours ago, Naazon said:

Someone up further said the same about shark bay. They are aquatic themed exhibits that you can move through in your own pace and not forced to wait 1+ hours for a 1minute ride. Shark Bay specifically is a bad example to call out against my comment cause the upstairs portion is enchanced by the location. The fact you can go downstairs is added bonus that takes nothing away from the space or attraction.

 

My comment was more on a whole dark ride. In my opinion the reason you would want a dark ride is to control the whole environment but as I said before, I think doing that at SW wastes the best natural environment I've ever seen at a park in the world.

Storm Coaster has that indoor element, but the main attraction of the ride and peak of the hight gives awesome views across the park and water.

I get people here get hard for old Bermuda. Sure it's a great ride, I'm not saying it wasn't. My point is i would prefer open air, but it's also gone so 🤷‍♂️

 

And I'm also not saying you can't have shade from natural or unnatural methods...

Its about creating diverse attractions for all people. You like open air rides, others like dark rides for the immersive experience they bring. Literally every other ride in the park takes advantage of landscape but personally when I ride a ride I am not riding it to ‘look at the view’ I am riding it for the experience of the ride itself. Seen as every other ride is open air I am sure one dark ride to cater for people who have a dark ride preference isn't going to kill you. 

I should also point out that I suggested a dark ride because I was keeping the space in mind, they already have an indoor structure that could be utilised and the area is not all that large, you are probably not going to squeeze in another coaster and the park already has an abundance of flat rides. But honestly, anything would be better than looking at a rusting away flume track 

[Ash]

Just give us another Bermuda triangle ride and I'll be happy, was a wicked ride back in the day

[themagician]

[Tin Foil Hat]

 

25 minutes ago, themagician said:

I PM’d him, apparently he works with guest services. Sounded pretty legit to me. Very disappointing if so.

[Rabbit2014]

If it don’t reopen, I hope the monorail track and stations don’t end up SBNO just like most of the flume ride has been for years. If it’s closed for good hopefully they actually remove it before Atlantis area finally opens.

[Rivals]

if they’ve decided to remove it, i’ll be shocked considering how they’ve built leviathan around the monorail and have openly been saying since it originally closed for The New Atlantis construction that it’ll reopen when the area has opened up. 

 

I think removing the monorail instead of adding new Modern and Air-Conditioned carriages would be a miss opportunity, especially considering how popular the ride is for families and how it easily connects the park and helps the flow of the crowd.

[Coasterjoe]

47 minutes ago, Boyden Hingston-Muir said:

 

I PM’d him, apparently he works with guest services. Sounded pretty legit to me. Very disappointing if so.

 

I am going to call BS. Here is the same bloke claiming he used to drive the Monorails. I think it would be very interesting if ‘guest services’ staff were the ones driving.

I also find it hard to believe that SW would tolerate spilling the beans on such sensitive info on social media as a legitimate employee. 

It’s not hard to believe that SW might be giving up the ghost on the monorail system but I wouldn’t trust this info personally. I know its a decision that would not be made lightly so I will wait for a more credible source before I accept it.