SEGA World Darling Harbour Pictures

[coasterfreak]

Attached are a few pics from SEGA World Darling Harbour. There are more to come. coasterfreak

[Richard]

Thanks for them - I never visited the park, along with presumably most people here. It's good to get an idea of what it was like. A few years ago, while staying down in Sydney, we were looking for things to do one night - I thought about Sega World, but I thought Nah, it'll be here next time, and so went off and hit the town for just a night of fun. Needless to say, the park closed not too long after.

[joz]

I visited a month or two after they closed, to be greeted by the sign saying "Sega World has permanently closed operations. Thank you to all our loyal members and guests for their support over the years". That sign is currently hanging on my Bedroom wall.

[GoGoBoy]

...And those pics only really give you a small idea. The park was actually very large, the size of 3 football fields. It had 9 major rides which a lot of people didn't realise... definitely not only arcade games.

[Flea]

For the park being open for such a short time, I feel honoured to having getting the Rail Chase credit. I rid it about 10 times overall, it was an excellent coaster. From what I remembered, this is how the ride went.. The car glided along a few tight turns before going up the lift hill. There were three tv's all with lips on the them saying something like 'enjoy your ride on Rail Chase (echo). The coaster then went down a rather large dip which were surrounded by rings that light up (as the car passes). There was a few very tight turns, and then led into the turntable area which was surrounded by strobes (and a giant spider that came down). You then went up a lift hill, backwards. While going up this lift hill, you had to put out fires with a fixed water gun on the car. A large explosion then took place on a small tv screen as you went down a drop. My mind has gone blank, but all I remember about this bit is that we were going through tight turns in complete darkness. The theming was very random, I guess you could call it Sydney's Disaster Transport! Rail Chase also generated very long lines, despite the great capacity. When I entered Sega World, it was like I stepped into another world. Flashing lights, the noise of the arcade games, the shiny black floor and more is what made it so special. It was a real bummer that the park was a major failure, I'm sure that by now there would have been some major additions. I'll get to the real point of the post now, sorry for going off topic. I never took pictures of my many visits to Sega World, so it's quite special to see some. Certaily brings back some memories. Thanks a lot!! ~Flea

[coasterfreak]

Pics page 2 Some of these pics are from when Sega World closed. coasterfreak

[coasterfreak]

Below is a plan for Rail Chase and its official description from Sega World Plans. Rail Chase Opened: 1997 Manufacturer: Mistago, Japan Ride Capacity: 12 The recently upgraded Rail Chase plummets riders to a mythical archaeological dig where they have to save the historical site from destruction by fire with an infra-red water cannon. Reaching a maximum speed of 10km/hour over a 210 metre track, the ride’s special effects are handled by Dataton software that responds to sensors on the track which are activated when a car passes over them. This sets up a time line for a series of special effects such as a suspended bridge with skeletal remains upon it followed by a holographic style face suspended above the track (achieved by rear projecting the image into a cast of an actors face), giant spiders and bugs, and through an icy and then burning caves. coasterfreak

[GoGoBoy]

Flea & coasterfreak - your descriptions of Rail Chase are a combination of the original ride confused with the new upgraded version of the ride. When I have some more time I will post a full ride description of the new Rail Chase before the park closed. Also, most of the above photos are from the 'Future' themed area of the park and only give you a limited idea of what the park was like. Does anyone have any photos from the 'Present' and 'Past' themed areas? I always thought 'the Past' had the best theme. It was also where Rail Chase was located.

[Shaun]

So why did they fail?, Obviously they wern't makeing enough money, but did they just slowly disapear, or where their expenses to much? Where they advertising it much? Also what are those kids doing in the 2nd pic ridding those bikes?

[Andy_q69]

Errr.. One of those little bobbing ducky things you find in a children's playground. lol

[GoGoBoy]

Yeah the photo you are talking about was not actually from inside Sega World. It is a little water feature playground which is in on the lake in Darling Walk; the retail complex which used to house Sega World. The park never really made any money from what I can gather. The management were hoping the olympics would boost the trade but it never happened. They also tried upgrading the park over the last few months... spending millions on new attractions. This didn't work either. Eventually the owners decided it was time to pull the plug. The former owner of Sega World is now running a business called Brilliant Digital at http://www.brilliantdigital.com and is closely associated with Kazaa, a popular file swapping program which is run by the old CEO from Sega World - Nikki Hemming.

[Slick]

When i went there last weekend all it was was a small, yes small empty little hall, but there was still an average size arcade next to the hall not related to Sega by name

[GoGoBoy]

Slick, Sega World was actually quite large for an indoor theme park. Perhaps you were looking at the wrong spot? It used to take up the whole upper level of the Darling Walk retail complex. The entry was on the mezzanine level, under the blue cone. Actually that water playground thingy that I was talking about earlier is still there even today. It is called 'Pondamonium' and it's right outside mcdonalds. The whole complex has failed though and will undergo a total redevelopment over the next few years. The entire upstairs space (once Sega World) is now empty and they have been unable to do anything else with it.

[reubot]

I really liked Sega World. One of the best things was that if you got bored of the rides you could spend your time playing the 100+ arcade machines. My favourite ride at Sega World would have to be Mad Bazooka. Sheer dodgem craziness!

[Shaun]

Is that the ride where you actualy shoot foam balls at the other riders! Iv'e heard of that, tell me more Shaun

[Andy_q69]

I happened to go to Coasterbuzz and search Wonderland Sydney and I came up with something about Railchase @ Sega World. Railchase was being auctioned for $1million (Aus). Why couldn't Wonderland buy it?

[Richard]

Alternatively, you could have looked here, and gotten a more correct auction price for the coaster. It was all of Sega Worlds assets that sold for a combined $1 million. The actual coaster sold for a fraction of that - $140,000. I'm sure there's a logical reason for the ride not being purchased by Wonderland - perhaps the most obvious would be that the ride wouldn't be terribly easy to install at Wonderland.

[reubot]

Is that the ride where you actualy shoot foam balls at the other riders! Iv'e heard of that, tell me more Shaun

Yeah, you would drive this buggy arround that had a computer systen inside. The floor was full of coloured balls. You would drive over them to pick them up and then you could then fire them at other's. When you finished there were stats as well. It was the funnest ride at Sega World.

[Richard]

There used to be a ride similar to that at the Ekka until about 10 years ago. I presume it also did the other major shows around Australia - pretty rotten memories from that ride though, but it was a very fun ride.