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[Nightshifter]

if im not mistaken i really am sure that i heared by my friend that works there that they are repainting the slides they are still there but they might repaint them in a later stage.

[Nightshifter]

I just sent an email to wonderland and long story short received a reply. Th park does have a few ideas up there sleeves, but she said that they are not planning anything or announcing anything to soon. She said they havent yet released what they are doing to the park, but she said the commitee is planning new rides, yes that rideS! in the upcoming 2-3 years. the bush beast will not open until saturday unfortunately for me as im going there on friday. and other than that the after 5 pm returns this saturday for the summer. thankyou and ill give a detailed description of the park in the next week so keep looking. ciao

[Flea]

Due to our school having an excursion to Wonderland today as part of our school's 20th birthday, I went along. The park was packed, our school alone had around 1,000 students there, along with an estimate of about 4 or 5 thousand other people. Demon and Space Probe both had one hour lines, so I only rode those once. As I was walking down to Goldrush (or running in that case, spent 2 hours looking for this girl), I noticed that there was the yellow train sitting on the crest of the second hill. As we were leaving Wonderland, a crane erected out of no-where. It seemed as if it was taking apart the yellow train, but I couldn't really see what they were exactly doing. At first glance, it appeared that there were two yellow trains... ~Liam

[Nightshifter]

well i just got back from Wonderland yesterday and what a day it was it was pretty packed to start off with we walked through the shop to notice this superhero headquarters which looked like **** well anyway the park was full of sschool kids and many teenagers. we noticed tasmanian devil was closed and the cars pulled off for refurbishment. Yes, transilvania looks weired with all the newly painted shops and the new look of the cool zone which looked creepy and better before it was repainted. the demon was packed and the space probe. i hoped the bush beast would open but it didnt and there were people actuallu walking on top at the bottom all over the ride fixing it. there were tests on the ride one with 2 people riding it but on the second hill it stopped at the small conveyabelt or pulley before the U turn. when it slowly moved it didnt even stop at the brakes before the second drop. weired. the ride then seemed altogether fast. the beach is really new nothing too different. the mountain cascades arent even opened yet. the river rampage is really great all the 8 sprays got us. they were all working and yes that ride was packed out too. the front entrance of the park looks crap with the front walls gone and there are cranes and dirt and a big mess everywhere. the first factory right in the middle of the road looks bombarding and then in the distance you can see the other factories in the back carparks. like i said the new park entrance will be built right next to the beach, you can already see the clearing of the land. there was a new stage being built on the waterfront where the old ship use to stand and now there is a new water geyser spraying out water in a nice way. lastly the lady operating the river rampage at the time stated that wonderland is NOT building any new rides for the near future. she said maybe another 2-3 years. She said that the park has has a reasonable park attendance every holidays and it still gets very busy in september and christmas for the summer. she said that the the comitee thinks that it is not necessary for new rides to be built becasue they still get a good response. I mean come on in queensland new rides have to be built for there competitors dreamworld, movie world, wet n wild and sea world. on the holidays in sydney there is only wonderland and thats it, so thats all people go to. if there was another 2 or 3 theme parks in sydney then there will be more rides, but it isnt necessary, everyone complains in this forum about the lack of rides at wonderland but yet you still love the park, you still attend. Dont come up with anymore of these crappy ruomers becasue they arent true unless you have facts written information from the website, you must have a source. I can tell you now that the park will not get a new ride for a while they blew a massive $10 million on the space probe and thats the end of it. thankyou.

[Richard]

Of course the place won't look too good while they're in the middle of construction, that's something you've got to live with. If the front of the park doesn't look too good at the moment, give it a few months, and once they've finished what they're doing at the moment, I'm sure it'll look better than it did before. $10 mil may have been spent on Space Probe (nearly 10 years ago), but how should that stop them from getting new rides? Dreamworld spent $6 mil on Wipeout, $16 mil on Tower of Terror, another $12 mil on Giant Drop, $5.5 mil on Cyclone and $7 mil on Nick Central. That's $46.5 mil in roughly the same time frame we're talking about with Wonderland. I don't understand how they "blew" the $10 mil either. Space Probe was, and still is a hugely successful ride, and I'm sure the park sees it as one of their best investments to date. They mightn't be getting new rides for a while, but that's for other reasons (you even cited the major reason for no new attractions in your post), certainly not because they can't afford it.

[Psycho]

Makes me wonder if the park's plans will change at all when Luna Park reopens next year. Although perhaps not a direct competitor, surely it would pose some sort of competition to Wonderland's market

[Richard]

Well, let's not forget that strangely enough Space Probe debuted around the time that Big Dipper did. Certainly that time around, it could have been seen as a potential threat. Whether the lineup that the "new" Luna Park will have will be seen the same way as Big Dipper was by Wonderland is anyone's guess.

[Nightshifter]

You are right Richard, but take in consideration that Wonderland is run by different owners than Dreamworld. Dreamworld may have the money to keep on improving the park where as Wonderland may be sort of poorer than Dreamworld. There is no chance that Wonderland can compete with Luna Park, but Luna Park is a heritage park and must be kept there. Wonderland has already beaten them. Like the lady said yesterday and another time before, the park doesnt make a profit a day, she said maybe call it equal and it depends on the amount of people a day. I think Wonderland is saving up the money for over the past 8 years to get back the money they spent so then when they do build a roller coaster, they are more comfortable with there financial problems if there are any and im sure that there will be more than one ride. IMO I'd like to see Wonderland build about 5 thrill rides than 1 roller coaster. Keep in mind the Wildlife park makes more money than Wonderland itself, thats where the money is going towards.

[Richard]

Tell me how a theme park that gets roughly the same attendance as Dreamworld, and I'm sure has much the same average in-park spending per person is not making a profit, while Dreamworld's owners are making close to $15 mil per year. If there were any reason that they're not spending money on new rides, it's because Sunway are using income to pay off debt that they incurred buying the park, which is a fair thing. Interestingly (and somewhat off topic), assuming the park's value hasn't changed since they purchased it, it's worth roughly 25% more to Sunway now because of the way currency exchange works.

[Nightshifter]

Interesting Tell me Richard the cost to actually buy the land must be a lot as well assuming everyone says Wonderland is bigger than Dreamworld (im not sure please correct me) they must of payed a lot for the land as well not to mention now that they have sold many of the car parks at the back.

[GoGoBoy]

I read somewhere that Sunway paid $50 million for Wonderland. Not sure how correct this is, I read it somewhere on the net. But if it's right Sunway certainly got a bargain. But then again, it is Wonderland we're talking about. Still, there's a heck of a lot of land out there plus some good assets (not to mention all the goodwill that has built up in the business over the years).

[joz]

Sunway has much bigger financial resources the Macquarie leisure. Macquarie after all runs a marina, Adventure World and Dreamworld. Fact is, even to Dreamworld, a park with less finanial resources, they have the cash to build anything they want to. The reason they don't is because they want to be sure they'll get a return on what they spend. Wonderland can already afford that big Hyper that everyone wants, just that Sunway don't wanna spend the money since the park is making enough money. At last count, Sunway has 219 acers in Sydney, Dreamworld is somewhere around 200, and Warner Village Theme Parks own 256 in Oxenford (around half of which is used between Movieworld, the studios and Wet 'n' Wild). Plenty of land each, but I doubt the amount of land Dreamworld had effected the sale price. I agree with GoBoi, $50million was a bargin, and you'd think it'd have paid for itself by now (I'm going on assumption, not fact). Not to mention the huge potential for expansion the park has. Its a shame that Sunway isn't using any of that potential though.

[thunder001]

OK, then let me spin your heads with this thought. The parks last major attraction was about 8years ago, so I'm told, although I could be wrong. So that could allow the park to build something large when the time comes to do so, OR the park could be saving the budget for new rides to allow for something a little bigger. With the income back into Sunway from the land sale for the Industrial park, this could also be used for a new attraction, or maybe they have bigger plans. What else could be bigger than a new land for the Marvel contract that the park now has. This could be the true reason for the park closing down little wonders land. A new area for the Marvel based rides. Just a thought. Does anyone ( FLEA ) know the location of the new super hero headquarters in relation to the old little wonders land. Just a thought.

[Flea]

Does anyone ( FLEA ) know the location of the new super hero headquarters in relation to the old little wonders land.  Just a thought.

Super Hero Headquarter's is located in the main plaza. It was built as an expansion to the already existing plaza, it's nothing major, but it certainly doesn't look "*****" as Nightshifter said. If you can't appreciate the ceiling of SHH, then you seriously have some major problems. The main plaza is located just ahead of the ticket booths. ~Flea

[FormerWonderEmp]

I think that WS will extend the Wildlife park into the former LWL. It would make sense considering that the Wildlife park brings in so much money for the park and that the former LWL joins the top half of the Wildlife park. Does anyone here who goes to WS on a regular basis actually look at the ages of the rest of the other people at WS? The majority of customers are families with young kids (under 12). Now think about this and now tell me the chance of getting a Hyper of Giga coaster. WS market has would mean that a ride like that would not be feasable. I would say that if there is a new ride coming in the near future it would be kids "thrill" ride like new Reptar ride at DW or something similar to replace Beastie. ~Former

[Richard]

Dreamworld 10 or 15 years ago wasn't the park it is today. Back then, you'd find, as with Wonderland today, a majority of the guests are families. I remember visiting with my family, and you'd just about be surrounded entirely by families. All it took at Dreamworld was a Wipeout or Tower of Terror to nearly completely flip the market shares. Until Nick Central came, an average day at Dreamworld would have easily more than 50% teens. You'll have seen that change with the introduction of Nick Central (not necessarily a drop in teen attendance, but rather an increase in family attendance). In fact, Nick Central's main purpose was to "balance Dreamworld's strength in the young adults market" - and it's worked tremendously (20% increase in childrens attendance). Flip that statement around, and replace "Nick" with "Marvel", and it works just the same for Wonderland. I think that some thrill rides would do tremendously to balance Wonderland's obviously family-oriented focus. It makes good sense to have a balanced market. Dreamworld coped much better than the other parks on the Gold Coast when the "terrorism" or SARS hit, simply because they actively target the local and regional markets a lot more than the Warner Village parks. As with any share or real estate portfolio, it really pays to diversify. For someone that doesn't really like Dreamworld, I'm sure sounding a lot like a fanboy these days.

[Andy_q69]

The only problem Wonderland has with teenagers, is all of them think Wonderland "sucks" because they havn't got any new rides. If you go on a day when they are open till 9-10pm, that is when all the teenagers come. It is a new experience riding all the rides they think are boring at night. Come to think of it, my sister got a text message from Wonderland regarding some "DJ Night" this Saturday (4th October). The park will open at 10am, and close at 10pm! There will be some DJ (forgot the name) performing live there and remixing songs and other stuff DJs do.. I'll sure be going at night then!

[Richard]

That's precisely my point - they don't visit because of the lack of good, modern rides. If the investment were to be made by the park for say a new coaster, then believe me, the boost in attendance would be far more significant than any increase they'd get if they were to add "family" attractions. Again, to tie this in, Dreamworld gets noticeable, but not overly significant attendance increases when they install a new thrill ride. Believe me when I say Nick Central has really done wonders for the park in terms of attendance boosts.

[Slick]

Hypothetically, a Marvel superhero land would be what Wonderland needs to boost both family and teen markets, think about it! One half of the Marvel land can have selected child thrill rides (a merry go round, and whatever was originally in HBL, except Beastie, sorry, it wouldn't fit), "possibly" a stadium with a show running associating with Marvel Superheroes(please no one give me a speach about the stadium, it's a possibility, can you handle that?), daily castings of "people dressed up as superheroes" that roam the Marvel superhero land and on the other half, your nice little (actaully quite big, something exactly like Silver Star) roller coaster and you can theme it as a Marvel ride, something like Six Flags would do with Batman or Superman, except with theming unlike SF magic mountain!!!

[joz]

I think a new attraction would do the park a world of good. I often speak to guests at SW who are from Sydney about Wonderland, and most people say they haven't been there for 3/4 years, and most other people say that "The parks crap since they got rid of Hana-Barbara Land". You get the feeling the park is reaching the end of what can be acheived by not adding anything, and I really think that a attendance decline is nigh unless some serious capital goes into the park soon.

[GoGoBoy]

Joz - I love your new news flash. It's funny yet completely true. The problem is we need to stop all those families who are still going to Wonderland despite the fact that nothing (positive) has changed in 10 years. They just keep on going back and Sunway is happy to keep taking their money (surprise). Maybe if we set up a booby trap at the front gates to the park?

[joz]

Joz - I love your new news flash. It's funny yet completely true.

Why thank you very much! For the sake of those people reading this when the news flash changes: News Flash: Wonderland opens the 'new' beach with the same slides it closed with. Like I say though, don't be surprised when instead of a family trip to Wonderland every 3/4 years, people start going to all the Gold Coast parks instead every 3/4 years. Wonderland seems to be in danger of loosing its local market, which is realyy, quite an acheivement.

[Nightshifter]

the only people i see is many japanese looking at koalas at the australian wildlife park and a lot of true australians at the wonderland park. there rreally arent many other race of people who visit the park.

[Nightshifter]

New Saturday Session is at Wonderland Sydney up unitl the end of christmas holidays. you can try to DJ and win money every saturday night which started from last saturday. same as usual $16.50 from 5-9 pm people can go in at 10am and stay till 9pm normal admission price. I gurantee everyone to go to Wonderland on a Saturday night. It's the best! Everyone should no by now that the tasmanian devil is under refurbishment and the bush beast opened last Saturday. Well thanx i will be going to wonderland on saturday night just before school and ill give you another update ciao!

[Flea]

I went to Saturday Session on Saturday. It's actually from 5-10pm, which does give you a bit more value for money. The atmosphere sure is great, and the rides rule at night (I got stuck on Bush Beast for the very first time on Saturday night), but for Wonderpass holders, it might not be the best way to go. You are not allowed to use your Wonderpass after 5pm, you must pay the $16.50. However, if you come a little bit before 5pm (say, 4:45pm), you will be allowed to use your Wonderpasss. To me, it doesn't make sense at all. To my understanding, Wonderland do not advertise this rule, therefore causing themselves a huge angry mob of people at guest relations. ~Liam