What if Paramount/Cedar Fair bought out Wonderland in 1992/2006?

[TBoy]

As many of us know, Wonderland Sydney was once a theme park in Western Sydney that operated between 1985 to 1994 and was the biggest theme park in Australia. It was originally operated by a mixture of companies, including James Hardie, Leighton Holdings (now CIMIC Holdings) NSW State Annuation Holdings and Taft Broadcasting Parks. The latter bought the Hanna-Barbera characters to the park as well as relocated rides from Kings Island and other parks owned by Taft Broadcasting, although it didn't have a majority stake. 

In 1992, Taft Broadcasting Parks was bought out by Paramount Communications (now Paramount Global) and rebranded its parks as Paramount's (name) in 1994. However, Wonderland Sydney wasn't bought out by Paramount as they didn't want it due to them only having a minority stake and it being on the other side of the world. Tafts shares in the park were sold to James Hardie. The park was bought out by Sunway Group in 1997, who screwed up the park and closed it in 2004, branding it for a number of reasons including 9/11, Bali Bombings, the Iraq War and SARS. However, what if the park was bought out by Paramount in 1992? Here's what I think would've happened:

Paramount Era

Like the other parks, it would've most likely been branded to have the Paramount prefix in its name. My guess is it would've been branded as "Paramount Australia's Wonderland" similar to how Paramount Canada's Wonderland was branded. Nick characters would've been added at Wonderland eventually instead of at Dreamworld and the Hanna-Barbera characters would remain (most likely wouldn't have an effect on SDSC as it was based on the 2002 movie). It would also likely been sold to Cedar Fair by CBS as CBS didn't want any theme parks.

Cedar Fair Era

Like the other parks again, it would've been branded as "Australia's Wonderland" again like from 1985-1994 by Cedar Fair. The Nick and HB characters could've remained until 2010 like the former Paramount Parks, until they were replaced by Peanuts like the other CF parks. Unfortunately, it would've most likely been a lower-tier park (Worlds of Fun, Michigan's Adventure etc.) and not get as much investment as the other sister parks just like how it didn't before it was sold (Taft wanted it to be smaller than the others IIRC). 

So this is what could've happened if Paramount/Cedar Fair bought Wonderland like the rest of the parks and would've been the only park in the chain outside North America. Unfortunately, this is just in my imagination, and it is now gone in real life. At least one of its old sister parks will be joining them soon with California's Great America closing soon. It is good to wonder though, tell me what you think.

Edited April 8, 2023 by TBoy

[Tricoart]

Though it's nice to think that, if Paramount were to have bought Wonderland, it could've possibly stayed around til today under Cedar Fair branding, realistically I think it would've just shifted the reasoning & date of closure by a bit. Cedar Fair has shown no real interest in establishing themselves internationally (or, intercontinentally?), and even if they wanted to, it's a stretch to think that Australia'd be an ideal pick for doing so. I reckon it would've either ended up sold to a separate entity as it already was with the Taft/Paramount sale, or just shut down like Geauga Lake/CGA. Best case scenario'd be that it was sold to someone with more know-how, but that could've happened either way.

[Baconjack]

Paramount were never going to buy Wonderland. They didn’t want it for reasons mentioned above and also the fact Sydney was a tiny theme park market back then (though they tried building a little park in Melbourne, which didn’t happen either for various reasons)

A real and more likely possibility that Wonderland lives today is through somebody else that we all know. Village seriously toyed with the idea of buying Wonderland around the time Sunway bought it during the mid 90’s. They asked consultants to study the park, but decided against it. I think a lot of the money they had for Wonderland was instead used on things like Lethal Weapon and WWF.

[jjuttp]

19 hours ago, TBoy said:

1994

2004

[REGIE]

11 hours ago, Baconjack said:

Paramount were never going to buy Wonderland. They didn’t want it for reasons mentioned above and also the fact Sydney was a tiny theme park market back then (though they tried building a little park in Melbourne, which didn’t happen either for various reasons)

A real and more likely possibility that Wonderland lives today is through somebody else that we all know. Village seriously toyed with the idea of buying Wonderland around the time Sunway bought it during the mid 90’s. They asked consultants to study the park, but decided against it. I think a lot of the money they had for Wonderland was instead used on things like Lethal Weapon and WWF.

If they did buy it, it would have probably been resold by now with them selling WNW Sydney and WNW Las Vegas.

[TBoy]

On 08/04/2023 at 11:54 PM, Tricoart said:

I reckon it would've either ended up sold to a separate entity as it already was with the Taft/Paramount sale, or just shut down like Geauga Lake/CGA.

If that were to happen, I feel like it would operate for around a year under Cedar Fair and then closed at the same time as Geauga Lake so that most rides can be relocated to other parks in the chain. I would hope it kept operating though under Cedar Fair but we can only imagine what it would be like.

Edited April 11, 2023 by TBoy

[REGIE]

What company ran dreamworld at the time Wonderland sold to the crap management? I wonder if they were ever interested in buying WLS ? I feel like it’s one of the only ways WLS might have hung around to this day.

Edited April 11, 2023 by REGIE

[Ashley Jeffery]

@Bussy would still be working there.

[Noll_57]

On 11/4/2023 at 5:07 PM, REGIE said:

What company ran dreamworld at the time Wonderland sold to the crap management? I wonder if they were ever interested in buying WLS ? I feel like it’s one of the only ways WLS might have hung around to this day.

Dreamworld and Wonderland were both sold around the same time in 1997. That was when Ardent took over DW. 

[Ashley Jeffery]

No Macquarie took over In 1999 from a Singaporean Business man. Sometime around 2010 Ardent split from Macquarie. 

On 19/04/2023 at 1:28 PM, Noll_57 said:

Dreamworld and Wonderland were both sold around the same time in 1997. That was when Ardent took over DW. 

 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

For the purposes of history, there was no purchase or sale so in my view no change in ownership. Macquarie Leisure = Ardent Leisure as far as i'm concerned.