Indoor Theme Parks?

[lil' monster]

Just wondering if anyone knows if there's any indoor theme parks in Australia.

[Gazza]

Tops in Brisbane and Dazzeland in Adelaide spring to mind, but they are both closed now.

[jcgoldcoast]

Segaworld in Sydney, but that is closed also.

[taronga]

Do they really count if they are closed? Also don't forget about all the Intensitys.

[colliric]

Just wondering if anyone knows if there's any indoor theme parks in Australia.

Crown Casino's Galactic Circus in Melbourne is now the largest operating Indoor Theme Park in australia. It's a peice of **** though as compaired to the other indoor parks mentioned(I've been to segaworld, it craps all over Galactic Circus). They claim to still have the motion rides Flight and Cyber Coaster... Yet I go there regularily and Cyber Coaster isn't even there anymore, and Flight has been out of order for about 2 years! Although they now have M9 Laser Wars, it's really just a large Videogame arcade.

[joz]

There aren't really any true indoor theme parks in Oz. I guess Funtasia on the Gold Coast could probably just barely be counted, purely because its got a bumper cars and mini golf but even that's a bit dodgy (I don't really buy the arcade being an indoor theme park thing). Snow World is a possibility, since it is indoors and has a consistent theme, and an Ice slide, but again seems a bit dodgy. There was a proper indoor park proposed for Surfers (Named Fantasea if memory serves correctly), which was a sea themed park over 4 or 5 levels. Basically as you went further down the further down the sea you'd go, and on the bottom level there was a Deep Sea sub ride, and the top level was themed to be over the surface and basically be restaurants and the like.

Edited December 24, 2005 by joz

[taronga]

Sega World & Intensity were the only two indoor theme parks in Australia, anything else is just a large arcade. I remember reading about the Fantasea park, i think it was to be built above the coach terminal. From what i saw of the plan it would have been pretty cool.

[T-bone]

Intencity was never a "Theme Park", and never will be. They have always been arcades and whatnot with several gaming machines, and a cool atmosphere. That does not classify as a Theme Park. Rowens Funland in Ulladulla even classifies itself as an arcade, yet it has a quite large dodgem car track, and a great cha-cha. Earlier in the year, Defunction made public that Rowens Funland was to close if no owner was to purchase the arcade, however it does seem the arcade has been purchased, and re-branded "Timezone Funland" and has been extensively upgraded, with new rides on their way aswell.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

thanks for that paul, i've been racking my brain over the name of Funland in Ulladulla... on top of the dodgems, the cha cha, and the million and one arcade and redemption games, they also had a pretty cool slot car track.

[kennykoala]

i used to like grundys, when it was at surfers paradise:) back in the day..

[taronga]

Intencity was never a "Theme Park", and never will be. They have always been arcades and whatnot with several gaming machines, and a cool atmosphere. That does not classify as a Theme Park. Rowens Funland in Ulladulla even classifies itself as an arcade, yet it has a quite large dodgem car track, and a great cha-cha. Earlier in the year, Defunction made public that Rowens Funland was to close if no owner was to purchase the arcade, however it does seem the arcade has been purchased, and re-branded "Timezone Funland" and has been extensively upgraded, with new rides on their way aswell.

The original Intencity arcades were indoor theme parks that had a cafe/chillout/retail area & five themed zone/areas: NRG - racing, shooting, fighting Wide World of Sports - sports Virtual Worlds - network simulator attractions Lost Civilizations - redemption/prize games Kids area? (name unknown) - ball crawl, slides etc. They were a joint concept from WVTP & Nine Network for those that don't know. After the first two years the concept went bust, and now they only focuss on what remains of the small arcades.

[Bubco]

Ha ha I remember Grundy's, that place was good. Not sure if this is right but was Grundy's just the old school name for Funtasia? I remember back in the day (early/mid 90's) at one stage they used to have a small indoor ghost train and a where Red Rooster now is that used to be a fast spinning ride, can't remember what it was called though, but it was fast. They also used to have outdoor minigolf. But as far as indoor theme parks go, I can only think of Top's and Dazzleland, which has been previously said are now closed and have been turned into something totally different. But as far as indoor arcades go, Funtasia and Galactic Circus are the best I've seen so far that are still in operation today. They are pretty sweet arcade wise, but pretty crappy if you're wanting more of a theme park than arcade. Not sure if they still have this but when I went to Funtasia for schoolies 2005, they had 6 linked Daytona USA and 6 linked Virtua racing games set up, each with 50" screens and motion cabinets, which meant that when you turned a corner on the game, the seat you were sitting in would turn as well. I'm not sure if they still have these set up though, but check it out. Also Funtasia has a Ridge Racer full scale game set up as well, which means that you get into an actual Mazda MX-5 Miata and the game is displayed on a 18 foot screen which is achieved by 2 projectors running simultaneously. definitely worth a try.

[strop]

Grundy's had quite a few rides in the late 80's & early 90's. There were the dodgems, a tilt'a'whirl, a small kiddies powered coaster, the ghost train (which was awesome) and the fast spinning ride in the round glass part of the building. I can't remember if there were any others besides I think maybe a simulator.

[Bubco]

The fast spinning ride in the round glass part of the building is now a Red Rooster, that's the one I was thinking of but wasn't sure how to describe it. I know someone who might remember the name of that ride, so I'll ask them sometime. The dodgems are still there but I don't remember much of the ghost train. All I remember is that it had a pretty sweet/freaky entrance way.

[bluman]

Glenelg in South Australia has The Beach House which is a small indoor theme park on the site of the old Magic Mountain. It contains a number of attractions including a carousel, dodgem cars, bumper boats, waterslides, mini golf, a train and numerous arcade games. It is proposed to build a 25 mtere, 16 gondola ferris wheel. They are claiming it is Australia's first single arm wheel? It is due to open in October.

[rappa]

Grundys even had waterslides at one point!

[Bubco]

Grundys even had waterslides at one point!

Yeah that's right I've seen some pics of it. Does anyone here on the forum have any other old photo's of what Grundy's/Funtasia looked like back in the 80's and 90's?

[GoGoBoy]

There was a proper indoor park proposed for Surfers (Named Fantasea if memory serves correctly), which was a sea themed park over 4 or 5 levels. Basically as you went further down the further down the sea you'd go, and on the bottom level there was a Deep Sea sub ride, and the top level was themed to be over the surface and basically be restaurants and the like.

That sounds great! Sure it would have been a hit on the Gold Coast if they had built it. I agree with some of the others on here - Grundy's at Surfers Paradise was awesome. We always used to visit it (when I was really young) on family trips to Surfers. I really hold it as one of the fond memories from my childhood. The Ghost Train was top notch - probably the best I've ever been on. I rode it many times every time we were up there. It was well themed with some great automated effects. I can remember it had these doors which looked like solid walls, they had various monsters painted on them (a witch comes to mind) in bright neon colours. Your car would plough through the doors and they had these bumps on the track to make it feel like you were smashing through a wall - very cool effect. Some of the other effects I remember were various animatronics such as Frankenstein popping up from behind a brick wall and a mad scientist or doctor operating on somebody. One of the final effects was a mummy case with big nails on the inside that would open up and reveal the mummy inside along with a really loud and kinda terrifying scream. From what I remember the track had an interesting single tubular rail design and the cars were well themed Edited May 2, 2010 by GoGoBoy

[Jobe]

Hi all!! Very interesting thread!! I certainly was not aware that Grundys had waterslides either, so this is a real revelation to me also!! I feel that Grundy's in its previous incarnation would be very popular in todays climate and would fill a void well into the evening and night when all the big theme parks are closed,especially with the popularity of Cavill Avenue as the focus point of most activity.In my opinion, if Grundys had recieved some investment over the years, Grundys could well have ended up being similar to some of the great indoor parks over seas!! Ah what might have been!! Anyhow I did do some research and I found a Facebook site wanting to bring back the Grundy's Waterslides. They had some great pics and these are a few of them. Enjoy!! I never visited the Gold Coast until 1995,well after Grundys had passed into history. It was a shame I couldnt see it in its hey day!! If anyone could detail a list of all the attractions that was at Grundys, I would be extremely grateful!! Cheers Jobe

[GoGoBoy]

Wow thanks for the pics. I don't remember those waterslides at all - they must have been around in the 70's but perhaps they weren't there when I was visiting Grundy's in the mid to late 80's. Can you imagine how popular waterslides on Cavill would be if they were there now! One thing I find strange is I always remember Grundy's being on the other side of Cavill mall. Did they move locations or am I just getting confused?

[joz]

As far as a ride line up goes, here's what I remember Ghost Train Carousel (Looking at the picture it's the same arrow model that's at both SW and DW today) Tilt a Whirl (Now Mozzie Musta at Aussie World) Bumper Cars Dragon Wagon (I think it's pretty much identical to

The one at Grundy's might have even been my first coaster ) There was also the water slides which I think were built in the mid to late 80's and closed only a couple of years later. They were a source of great controversy at the time. Lots of "they're ugly!" and "Why build water slides when there's such a good beach across the road?" And I can confirm 100% that Grundy's was where Timezone is now. For the most part, Grundy's really was just an arcade with a couple amusements thrown in. There was also a mini golf course on the roof outside of where the bowling alley is now, but admittedly that side of the building is very hazy to me. Part of me swears there was a bowling alley up there in the 80's, that was later done up to become the glow in the dark bowling, but I'm really not 100% on that bit. Edited May 2, 2010 by joz

[Jobe]

Thanks for the info Joz! So there really wasn't all that much more at Grundy's than there is at the current Timezone now?? Couple of questions though. The waterslides are all at the Beach End of Cavil Avenue whereas the current Timezone footprint really only occupies the area to the right of the top of the escalator. All the rides that disappeared when Grundy's changed hands were, I presume, located on the left hand side?(from memory I think this is where the Bowling alley and the shooting range currently reside?) Can anyone confirm this?? Also I was going to ask how long were the water slides in operation and from what time line? And finally what year did Grundy's cease operating?? I would have loved to have visited this place back in the day....I would have especially loved to ride the Ghost train!! Anyone know the reason for its eventual closure? Cheers Jobe

[Bubco]

Thanks for putting up the pics, I never knew they had water slides there till I saw those photo's. I would have started going there in the early 90's and now I remember they used to have a carousel where Timezone now is. Didn't get to ride the Ghost Train though coz I was pretty young back when it was there but from the description "GoGoBoy" gave it seems like it was pretty good. I remember seeing it there a few times when it was still operating. They still have Mini Golf there but it's now indoors in Timezone and the outdoor one has been shutdown for years and nothing has been done to it, it just sits there vacant which is a shame. I'm guessing the Carousel or the Ghost Train used to be where the indoor Mini Golf now is. If Grundy's was still open these days it would be like a mini night time amusement park, it's changed so much since then.