More Rides At Sydneys Luna Park For School Holidays

[Nebuchanezzar]

Bull crap, they never themed the rides in 1995, they merely added some backdrops and crammed them in. I wouldn't call a backdrop and a sign themeing. I would call what Disney, Universal, Movieworld etc, what they do, I'd call themeing. It is indeed a funpark, and nothing more. And by the looks of things it's doing great business too, even without the 'horrible' presentation...

[GoGoBoy]

Please do not start your posts with stupid phrases like "bull crap". If you don't agree with a comment I make then say so and point out your argument. Anything else is abrupt and childish. In 1995 Luna Park spent a lot more money on trying to present their rides in an attractive way than they did this year. Think about the massive psychadelic bug which used to stand out the front of the Tumble Bug. Or the position of the Spider with the giant 3D robotic spider standing guard over the top. Or the entire Wild Mouse slab themed as a big block of swiss cheese complete with holes and an animatronic mouse popping up and down out the front. Or the snow capped mountain connected to the Big Dipper. Or the kids rides all carefully placed with colourful themed objects scattered all around

[GoGoBoy]

Please do not start your posts with stupid phrases like "bull crap". If you don't agree with a comment I make then say so and point out your argument. Anything else is abrupt and childish. In 1995 Luna Park spent a lot more money on trying to present their rides in an attractive way than they did this year. Think about the massive psychadelic bug which used to stand out the front of the Tumble Bug. Or the position of the Spider with the giant 3D robotic spider standing guard over the top. Or the entire Wild Mouse slab themed as a big block of swiss cheese complete with holes and an animatronic mouse popping up and down out the front. Or the snow capped mountain connected to the Big Dipper. Or the kids rides all carefully placed with colourful themed objects scattered all around. By the way I should point out that I am not suggesting that the 1995 attempt at attraction presentation was anything particularly special, just that it was better than the attempt they made this year ie. very little

[joz]

Goboi, on that Zodiac looks quite good, though I love the "Interesting Facts" section on that page. The information on there lists simply: "Once had a serious accident." Thankfully they didn't bore us with all the minor, negligible details, like what happened? Or if it was due to rider misconduct or ride failure.

[GoGoBoy]

Haha yeah I'm not sure "Interesting Facts" is the best term for that. The ride has definitely had a sordid past from what I hear but apparantley the 'serious accident' didn't involve a fatality thankfully. Unless there was more than one serious accident. It was a ride failure and involved one of the carriages half snapping off and being dragged along and hitting stuff with two petrified school kids inside. Something along those lines. Regardless of its history, yes, the ride does look good for an Enterprise. You can't see the entry theming in that pic but it also looks good. Lots of big ancient god type statues and related things

[coaster_crazee]

lol... petrified school kids... where is this zodiac located??? r u talkin about wonderlands zodiac???

[HussRainbow]

No this is a HUSS ENTERPRISE that is located at THORPE PARK in the UK heres some info on the accident: school trip to a Thorpe Park turned into a terrifying ordeal for two teenagers as they were thrown about inside a dangling car, a court heard today. The boy and girl were sitting in a mobile gondola on the Zodiac Enterprise ride at Thorpe Park in Surrey when a support snapped, leaving it dangling. The pupils, from St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, remained inside the car as it repeatedly crashed against the ground each time the contraption rotated. Woking Magistrates Court heard that the ride's controller, Abigail Baldwin pressed the emergency stop button but watched helpless as the car crashed repeatedly before the ride finally came to a stop through its own momentum. Two mangers from the park, Keith Workman, 46, from Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, and Christopher Edge, 58, from Witley, Surrey, each deny one charge of failing to discharge duties under the Heath and Safety at Work Act in connection with the incident in September 2001. In a statement read to the court, the girl, who was 14 at the time of the accident and who cannot be named for legal reasons, said: As the ride started to lift I heard a bang from the back of the car. It sounded a bit like two pieces of wood banging. I thought nothing of it, the ride continued to rise and and go up. But she soon heard a friend in the car behind screaming before she felt the car drop at the back and hit something as it reached he ground. She said: I hit my head on the car gate. The car started to go up again and again hit something on the way down. The ride went up another three or four times hitting something each time. I could see bits of wood I thought were bits of the car flying past into the car behind. As the car passed the control box I screamed at the girl to stop the ride. She was crying and kept saying, 'I can't' . Ms Baldwin told the court she was at the controls when she heard a large bang and looked up to see a piece of the fence flying through their air as the dangling car crashed against it. She reached for the emergency stop but the car crashed with each rotation as it slowed down. She said: Following my hitting the emergency switch, as the car came down the back was repeatedly hitting the fence and as the ride got lower it was hitting the floor as well. The thing is with this ride, and Rainbow and Ranger, is that if there is anything that could hit the ride, its crucial, just think of the damage rainbow would cause.......I hate to think about it!

[Bussy]

Well if that's the case why do parks bother to theme rides at all? Why do they bother creating attractive signage? What you're saying is that no one cares how the rides are presented. Why doesn't every park just look like the Easter Show then? It would be much cheaper from the parks point of view. I'm not saying it's just about whether the ride is a road model or not - it's about the presentation as a whole. If Luna Park made a real effort to present their rides well then I wouldn't care as much about them being portable. But when you stick a trailer mounted demountable ride on a bit of asphalt at a permanent amusement park (and don't give it any theming or signage whatsoever) - how can you say that's acceptable to everyone? You'll also find that most visitors to Luna Park think the front part of the park looks good while Maloney's Corner looks a bit cheap and nasty. Once again it comes down to presentation. You said that everyone here has high expectations of Aussie parks that can't be met. I completely disagree. There are a number of parks in Australia who already take great pride in the quality of their attractions and spend a lot of money on making them look good

Please don't put words in my mouth GoBoi. I never said that no one cares how the rides are presented, I said they don't care if they are on a trailer or not. How do you know that the attractions that are obviously on trailers are going to be in the park permanently? For all we know the management of the park could have plans to change the rides in the park every 12 months, 18 months, whatever, so spending a heap of money on a lot of themeing and signage is a waste of money. According to just about everyone here Australian parks don't take pride in the rides themeing wise or maintenance wise. So don't tell the majority of people on this forum don't have expectations way above what is realistic. If you want a park the standard of a Disney park go to California or Florida, don't ever expect it in Australia. "The Bus is now leaving for Disney, Queensland"

[MARK28]

I hope they get the Easter show claw there. (the Swing Out in America). They go in the most random directions, but they're a whole lot of fun. But anyway, I'm not too fussed on how a ride is themed, especially the Ranger cause you don't notice it in the enclosed ship, still a great ride though; the restraints are really simple, but really secure.

[HussRainbow]

I just got told that the HARD ROCK is infact there so ya'll get down there and have a ride! also it will do sydney, its essential!

[rappa]

No Bus I respectfuly think you are wrong. That back area of the park looks dodgy as. It doesn't matter if they plan to change the rides around (and I doubt they will) the way they are at the moment is still a poor effort. The whole area is **** from from the fact you enter through a little path around the side and underneath coney island. They should forget that whole idea and try again, I think the residents would be a lot less vocal too if it wasn't for that poorly constructed part of the park. It's not just that area either. If you now see they are painting the temporary facade of the Wild Mouse as well. Look like they decided against building what was going to be there as was depicted on the facade and are simply painting in the plain white wall. I still don't know why they didnt keep the block of cheese look and leave the dodgems underneath if this is what they are doing now. The whole mouse looks really crap with all the bright yellow catwalks and the like they have added on.

[GoGoBoy]

djrappa I totally agree with you. I think Luna Park needs to steer away from this 'temporary carnival' theme they have got going. It's not and never was a temporary carnival, it's a permanent fun park. Things like the Big Top work well because it has a carnival theme but is most definitely permanent and fixed on site. They need to get rid of all the trailers and crap. The area behind Coney is the worst culprit. I agree the mouse does not look good this year. As you said rappa, it is such a shame the way they added all those extra catwalks and stuff. I realise they probably had to do it for safety but still. I also much prefered the mouse when it had its 3D cheese enclosure as I am not a fan of 2D painted plywood walls. Nonetheless the artist is doing a good job and making the wall come alive as much as possible. I think it's there to stay... I doubt they have any other plans for it

[rappa]

Yes I love the Big Top. It's one of my favourite Venues to work in now and we have done several gigs in there in the last few months. I also worked in Crystal Palace for the first time last week and it's quite nice also. Just a shame to see why no expense has been spared here, it has elsewhere. No I agree the wall is staying, however from my understanding the original intention was to actualy construct all the extra features that are depicted in the mural. Same for the Catwalks, yes they are probably required but they didn't need to be so obviously steel add ons and painted yellow did they?

[Bussy]

I agree that the back area of the park is very dodgy and I almost missed it when I went. However I was talking about how the rides on trailers look not how the park looks. For a ride like Ranger to be taken off the trailer and made permanent would require taking the ride out of operation for at least a month, closing a fairly large area to allow the ride to be adapted and also to prepare the location where it is going to go. It's not just a simple matter of removing the trailer off the bottom of the ride. I don't think this has anything to do with the residents complaining, they are going to do it regardless of where the rides are located. As for the Wild Mouse I haven't seen it since it opened so I really cannot comment on how it looks. However the catwalks, due to the rides location on the roof, are probably required to be painted yellow by WorkCover. They have very definitive guidelines on this kind of thing. "The Bus is now leaving for Wild Cat Bore, Northern Territory"

[rappa]

Im actualy pretty sure that given the rides historical significance they probably could have gotten around the colour rules if they had really wanted to... Just a thought

[Nightshifter]

to tell you truth people, get it through your heads that Luna Park is not an amusement park for adults. It's a small park that was built some 80 years ago and provided entertainment for kids and today the park as we know it will never get any more rides and will always be known as a kids amusement park. There are rides that a remore thrilling for teenagers and we see that there, but the park was built to provide a lot of entertainment for kids, and Luna Park needs to aim higher than a carnival. theres nhothing wrong with the park and for you people to already start complaining after being in rehab for many years and spending over 50 million to renovate, you shouldnt really start complaining that they need more rides or this needs to be done. You really got to understand that money is a big issue theser days and you can't just waste it all the time. They spent a lot of money and have made a great historic park, nothing more.

[steve$]

We are lucky that we have anything it all. It is much better than nothing...much better

[HussRainbow]

Its not a crap ride, its very good for a travelling ride, and provides awesome thrills, be happy that you have it

[GoGoBoy]

Luna Park was never built for kids. It was built for all the people of Sydney. To say the park is for kids is completely wrong. Why else would it have always been open till so late at night? In old pictures of the park you can see just as many adults as kids. A lot of money was spent on the park's re-opening this year but you have to remember that most of that money was NOT spent on the amusement park. It was spent on building a number of state of the art five star function and event venues. The rides at the park were already there they just needed some refurbishing and repainting

[Bussy]

to tell you truth people, get it through your heads that Luna Park is not an amusement park for adults. It's a small park that was built some 80 years ago and provided entertainment for kids and today the park as we know it will never get any more rides and will always be known as a kids amusement park. There are rides that a remore thrilling for teenagers and we see that there, but the park was built to provide a lot of entertainment for kids, and Luna Park needs to aim higher than a carnival. theres nhothing wrong with the park and for you people to already start complaining after being in rehab for many years and spending over 50 million to renovate, you shouldnt really start complaining that they need more rides or this needs to be done. You really got to understand that money is a big issue theser days and you can't just waste it all the time. They spent a lot of money and have made a great historic park, nothing more.

You really have no idea do you Shifty? As GoBoi said the park was and is for the people of Sydney and not a specific demographic. There are rides for young and old, the function rooms cater for everyone and the nostalgia the park has for many Sydneysiders, particularly the older generations make it a drawcard. They didn't spend the money to make a historic park, the park was already historic, the money was used to get it ready to re-open again and modernise it. What's that I hear? It sounds like sleigh bells. I must be off now Santa’s coming. I’m so excited. "The Bus is now leaving for Wanui Santas, Queensland"

[steve$]

Same here BUssy. I cant wait till Santa comes down my chimney. Unfortunately I will be having a fire tonight Im gonna leave soem milk and cookies out for dad.....i mean....santa

[hratw]

According to Guest Relations The Hard Rock and Dominator are supposedly returning to Luna Park Sydney for the Autumn School Holidays.