Space Probe and Zodiac

[djsupersleuth]

Breaking News: these two rides will be coming down in August, and I will be able to get some good footage of this as I will be on site.

[koolkidsyd]

And how are you allowed to get access to the site may i ask?.

[LunaParkFanatic]

Farewell you two great rides!

[T-bone]

DJ is one of the fantastic workers who used to work at Wonderland, and was the one who went over to Visionland to help them re-build the ride.

[dr_teeth]

Hey Djuppsssfffewwr or whatever your name is....any word on where these rides are going after they are pulled down?

[LunaParkFanatic]

Something needs to be done! I think Jambaroo should buy the Zodiac and put it up on the hill with the chairlift etc...! But thats just my opion!

[koolkidsyd]

Jamberoo isnt going to buy it, they arnt that kind of theme park.

[Spotty]

Bye Bye Zodiac and Space Probe.

[PattieBoi]

I reckon the Space Probe would look good on top of that hill with the chairlift and the tobogan slide thing.

[LunaParkFanatic]

HaHaHaHa yeah it would!

[Bussy]

It might do but with the close proximity of Albion Park aerodrome that would make it impossible. "The Bus is now leaving for Albion Park Aerodrome, NSW"

[djsupersleuth]

And how are you allowed to get access to the site may i ask?.

I have been asked to work on their dissassembly. At this time the new home(s) of these rides do not want the information disclosed and by doing so I would probably not be working on them

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

understanding the confidentiality, are they staying in australia or going overseas? surely that doesn't breach your nondisclosure?

[GoGoBoy]

So they've been sold eh? Sunway is STILL squeezing out every last dollar. Makes me sick

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Im not so sure that sunway sold them... I am pretty sure that ING Industrial fund owns the land, as of January 1st. Therefore all the infrastructure and rides would transfer ownership to ING... so maybe its ING trying to recoup some of their purchase costs on the land?

[Bussy]

GoBoi do you really think that Sunway would just give up some of it's assets for nothing? Get serious. This is a business and as much as you or anyone else may not like it the fact is they exist to make money, no other reason. What would have rather they done? And don't say keep the park open because that is impossible. From what I understand ING do own the land but Sunway own the rides still. This may have changed since I last heard, as there was a deadline as to when this was going to happen but if negotiations were underway ING may have allowed Sunway to keep ownership of the rides. "The Bus is now leaving for Ownaview, Queensland"

[GoGoBoy]

What would have rather they done?  And don't say keep the park open because that is impossible.

Why on earth would it have been impossible to keep the park open? That's exactly what they should have done. The park should have continued to improve and invest in new attractions (as every other decent theme park does) and there's no doubt they could have stayed open. They were getting 800,000 visitors per year (and those are the numbers they have admitted to, may have been higher in reality). That is very significant visitation and don't tell me they couldn't have improved on that with continued controlled investment in the park. What I'm getting at here is that Sunway was a tight foreign investor who had absolutely no interest in Australia/Sydney other than getting maximum return for their money. They gave no thought whatsoever to the impact their decisions might have on the area or the people of Sydney. Don't you think it's funny that all of the parks in their own country are not doing particularly well and yet they don't close them down - in fact they build new ones

[koolkidsyd]

GoBoi's post i agree with 100%, Sunway did contribute anything to the park, they did not have a thought about the local area or Sydney itself, if a Australian company owned Wonderland the situation would have been much different.

[djsupersleuth]

understanding the confidentiality, are they staying in australia or going overseas? surely that doesn't breach your nondisclosure?

Unfortunately it does, I have been told releasing any information other than the fact they are coming down in August is not allowed. Believe me, when that information is allowed to be released I will do it immediately via this site.

[Bussy]

Why on earth would it have been impossible to keep the park open? That's exactly what they should have done. The park should have continued to improve and invest in new attractions (as every other decent theme park does) and there's no doubt they could have stayed open. They were getting 800,000 visitors per year (and those are the numbers they have admitted to, may have been higher in reality). That is very significant visitation and don't tell me they couldn't have improved on that with continued controlled investment in the park. What I'm getting at here is that Sunway was a tight foreign investor who had absolutely no interest in Australia/Sydney other than getting maximum return for their money. They gave no thought whatsoever to the impact their decisions might have on the area or the people of Sydney. Don't you think it's funny that all of the parks in their own country are not doing particularly well and yet they don't close them down - in fact they build new ones

It was impossible to keep the park open because the company wanted to cash in on it's investment and so the decision was made. The fact that they didn't invest in new attractions is proof of this. Your second paragraph pretty much sums up what I was going to say, it was a foreign investor who had no interest in the long term use of the park (and why should they? They bought it so they can and did what they want with it). You have to remember that this is business that we are talking about and they are definitely not compassionate bodies. One more thing can you supply us with some figures to back up your claim about the Malaysian parks having low attendance. "The Bus is now leaving for Malay Pool, Western Australia"

[GoGoBoy]

I can't remember the Malaysian park's attendance figures but I do know that they were not doing well financially. I have looked over a number of Sunway's (Sunway City's) financial end of year reports which clearly show this. The reports are freely accessible to anyone and can be found on the Kuala Lumpar stock exchange website. Have a bit of a look over them from the last 5 years or so and you will see for yourself. When any company buys a business such as a well-established and iconic theme park in a big city like Sydney (and the only one we had), there should be a serious intention/attempt to purchase it as a going concern and keep it alive. I do not believe they attempted this. Closing down a business of this kind can have large repercussions on the city and has the potential to impact heavily on both domestic and international tourism. I do believe that had an ethical and reasonable company (and even better a locally based company) bought Wonderland there is a large chance it would still be around today. Sunway is not that company

[RAVER22]

Sorry to say but a company is not there to be ethical or reasonable, they are there to make money, and as much of it as they can. By what you said that Sunway was not doing well in there home parks, you look after your core business first, even if that means selling your offshore investments to maximise profit and maybe inject some more money back into your core business. I know this well by moving to Melbourne 4 months ago, to find out now that im needed back in sydney. Now that is annoying! Just hate the fact that the office is in Glendenning so ill have to drive past Wonderland on a daily basis again and see it getting torn down!

[Bussy]

That’s exactly right Raver. And considering Sunway's core business is not theme parks it makes a lot of sense to off load an investment that is not making them enough money. "The Bus is now leaving for Coreouter, Bore, Western Australia"

[GoGoBoy]

So based on what you guys are saying it would be quite ok for a company to buy out all of the Queensland theme parks, not invest any further in them, then close them down and sell off the land for residential purposes would it? And if the company did do this you would think that was perfectly fine and not have any problem with it? Never mind the fact that there would be no theme parks left - business is all about making money afterall, they can do what they like. When I become a crazy billionaire one day I am planning to invest heavily in Malaysia. I plan to buy out the Sunway parks (most of which are located in the heart of the city, with Sunway owned resorts and residential areas surrounding them), bulldoze them and turn them into dirty big stinking swamps. Wouldn't get much of a return financially but it would be fun

[koolkidsyd]

Once again this thread has drifted of topic lol.