Thredbo Alpine Coaster

[Ranger]

Thredbo has apparently submitted a DA to build Australia’s first alpine coaster 

 

https://www.thredbo.com.au/about-thredbo/thredbo-development/

[Gazza]

Sigh....

But I'll do it anyway.

[aaronm]

Wasn’t the Big Banana building one as well?

[Rabbit2014]

38 minutes ago, aaronm said:

Wasn’t the Big Banana building one as well?

They were planning on building one, which was apart of there $50 million dollars expansion over 20 years.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Pretty sure Jamberoo had one on the cards at some point too, although it hasn't been part of their latest works.

[Jobe]

Yeah The Big Banana has posted plans and a submitted DA for one. Its in advanced planning and is expected to open within the next 12-18 months.

 

Jamberoo did indeed have plans for an Alpine Coaster and had submitted a DA for one but this has been withdrawn at this stage. 

 

Given The Big Banana's advanced stages for their unit, I would expect that this will be the first to open and therefore will be considered Australia's first Alpine coaster.

 

This is great news though- too long has Australia not had one of these excellent and relatively inexpensive attractions!

One of these would not look out of place at Funfields or Gumbuya World either........

[Gazza]

Quote

Given The Big Banana's advanced stages for their unit, I would expect that this will be the first to open and therefore will be considered Australia's first Alpine coaster.

What's advanced at the moment?

[Jobe]

On 23/05/2022 at 3:20 PM, Gazza said:

What's advanced at the moment?

Well no groundwork has been started at this stage and I am not surprised by this , given the wet weather that the Eastern states have been experiencing these last couple of months. The Big Banana have said in their announcement that their Alpine Coaster would be opened within 12 months so at this stage I expect it to be at least next year. The DA and approvals have been given so its just a matter of getting to construction phase. I visit Coffs regularly for work and are due up there soon so I will check out anything next time I am up there and get some pics and report back.👍

"A number of other major development applications have been submitted to the NSW Department of Planning and Environment. These will see substantial investment over the coming years to develop and enhance some of the most popular areas of the resort, including the:

• development of a new Merritts Mountain House;
  • development of a new Alpine Coaster to replace the Thredbo Bobsled – an exciting year-round attraction;"

 

Given that Thredbo are just at the DA submission stage, I would not expect this new Alpine coaster attraction to come to fruition for at least 2-3 years yet. Its a shame that they are removing the Alpine Tobaggan though- it would have been great to have had both attractions operating at the same time. I actually haven't ridden this one but at 700 metres in length , its one of the longer units in NSW. Interesting that whilst NSW has 7 Alpine slides, Queensland has none. I know of the one at Funfields in Victoria ( its a great track and quite long as well) but does any one know of any other examples in the other states? 

Here is a POV of the Thredbo slide:

 

 

Edited May 24, 2022 by Jobe

[Gazza]

Qld used to have one at Samford Grass Ski park, Vic had one at Kinkuna country in lakes entrance, SA had one at Lakeside leisure park.

I only ever got to ride the Kinkuna one.

[Jobe]

6 hours ago, Gazza said:

Qld used to have one at Samford Grass Ski park, Vic had one at Kinkuna country in lakes entrance, SA had one at Lakeside leisure park.

I only ever got to ride the Kinkuna one.

Interesting!! Are any of these still in operation? 

[DJKostya]

Don't forget Corin Forest in Canberra has one as well. http://www.corin.com.au/alpine_slide/

I'm not sure whether it still holds true but it used to be the longest in Australia at 1.2km

[Gazza]

6 hours ago, Jobe said:

Interesting!! Are any of these still in operation? 

All gone.

Samford you can see in old aerial image.

 

Kinkuna Country was closed and replaced with housing

 

Lakeside Leisure park also closed in the late 90s I think.

 

you can see it if you turn back the clock on Google Earth near Brodie Rd, Huntfield Heights.

[Slick]

Did a quick morning Google on the Samford one (Samford's the area I grew up in so to hear that there was a bobsled in town is really neat). Jumping on QImagery, it looks like it didn't last all that long, maybe less than a decade (it's clear as day in the 1992 & 1987 images, not visible prior to 1983 in a completed form and then basically gone by the 1994 images).

FYI, that site is now a cafe/wedding venue with a really lovely view of a part of Samford Valley that's now soccer grounds and parklands (was formerly a CSIRO research site).

1992 Images from Queensland Imagery:

 

 

1997-ish Images from Queensland Imagery:

 

13 minutes ago, Slick said:

Did a quick morning Google on the Samford one (Samford's the area I grew up in so to hear that there was a bobsled in town is really neat). Jumping on QImagery, it looks like it didn't last all that long, maybe less than a decade (it's clear as day in the 1992 images, not really visible prior to that date in a completed form and then basically gone by the 1997 images).

FYI, that site is now a cafe/wedding venue with a really lovely view of a part of Samford Valley that's now soccer grounds and parklands (was formerly a CSIRO research site).

1992 Images from Queensland Imagery:

 

 

1997-ish Images from Queensland Imagery:

 

And some footage from a recent-ish 7news Flashback:

 

[Gazza]

Good stuff. That blurry aerial was the only one i could find back when i did this thread, nice to see some clearer images from the 90s are now available. Has a more interesting layout than the others, eg the reverse curves in and out of that big U turn halfway down would be a challenge. (Corin is like that and it attempts to chuck you out)

[Naazon]

1 hour ago, Slick said:

FYI, that site is now a cafe/wedding venue with a really lovely view of a part of Samford Valley

Which venue?

I need to get married at some point soon

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

1 hour ago, Naazon said:

Which venue?

I need to get married at some point soon

blink twice if you're being held against your will.

[New display name]

My sled and I went over the side of the track, and I ended up on the grass at Smaford, when I was a kid. From memory it was common.

[Slick]

3 hours ago, Naazon said:

Which venue?

I need to get married at some point soon

Huh.

I did a quick Google - it was called Topiaries on Beaumont but it was sold off during at the start of the pandemic and not sure what's come of it. 😕 

[Jobe]

So from my estimation there is only the  Funfields slide in Victoria and the Alpine slides all located in NSW that are left operating in Australia?  Interesting to see this. The  7 Alpine slides in NSW are :

 

 

• Jamberoo Action Park- 2 slides with access via a chairlift, both 900 metres in length
• Corrin Forest in the ACT- 1 slide, uphill tow, 1.2km long ( longest Alpine Slide in the Southern Hemisphere)
• Tobaggan Hill Park- Nelson Bay 1 slide , up hill tow, 1 km in length
• The Big Banana Fun Park, Coffs Harbour, 1 slide ,up hill tow, 500m long
• Thredbo Alpine Slide, 1 slide, up hill tow, 700m in length.
• Magic Mountain Merimbula, 1 slide , up hill tow, 900m in length.
• Big Buzz Fun Park 1 slide concrete, up hill tow, 480 metres in length.

The Alpine Slide in Victoria is:

• Funfields , Whittlesea- 1 Slide uphill tow, 700 metres in length.

 

The Big Buzz Fun park toboggan is the one that is the most unique in this group.

 

 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I've only ever been to Corin forest when it was winter - and the snow on the hillside just capped off a superb toboggan. 

I've done Coffs and Jamberoo and Corin is still my favourite.

With the up hill tow, i'm wondering whether, because the entire track is a circuit - do they count the lift hill as part of the track length? If that's the case, You kind of have to give Jamberoo the win on longest length by default, right?

[yaark]

There used to be a toboggan ride at Gumbuya Park as well. Interesting it was actually a concrete channel (which was quite shallow), rather than a steel channel that most of the other examples feature. i actually ended up with a concrete burn on my wrist last time I rode it:

 

 

 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I mean if we're going off the Wiegand Style alpine toboggan and throwing in any old thing then you have to count the toboggan at Big Buzz Forster - which back in the 90s was a fibreglass waterslide channel that you went down on something akin to a Wiegand toboggan with a pink fibreglass shell mildly resembling an 80's corvette (and coming off on that at speed did some damage!), but now appears to be a giant tricycle with 15 inch bike wheels that runs on a centre guide rail.

Toboggan on the Mid North Coast, NSW | The Big Buzz Fun Park

 

Edited May 26, 2022 by DaptoFunlandGuy

[Whombex]

Did Thrill Hill in Woombye ever have a toboggan?

[Jamberoo Fan]

On 23/05/2022 at 3:14 PM, Jobe said:

Jamberoo did indeed have plans for an Alpine Coaster and had submitted a DA for one but this has been withdrawn at this stage. 

Just to clarify, a DA was never submitted by Jamberoo for an alpine coaster. The alpine coaster's plans that I found just happened to be included in the original DA the park submitted for Velocity Falls & Koala Kove. It was randomly in a section about bushfires that I found it in. You probably also forgot the e-mail Jamberoo sent you confirming it was not in a DA.

In the end, there seems to be a growing interest in Australia for alpine coasters. I think Australia will get one. It is not a matter of if but when and most importantly, who? (Odds are Big Banana first by the end of 2023)

[Jobe]

On 26/05/2022 at 11:55 AM, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

I mean if we're going off the Wiegand Style alpine toboggan and throwing in any old thing then you have to count the toboggan at Big Buzz Forster - which back in the 90s was a fibreglass waterslide channel that you went down on something akin to a Wiegand toboggan with a pink fibreglass shell mildly resembling an 80's corvette (and coming off on that at speed did some damage!), but now appears to be a giant tricycle with 15 inch bike wheels that runs on a centre guide rail.

Toboggan on the Mid North Coast, NSW | The Big Buzz Fun Park

 

Yeah. It definitely looks in house but its a toboggan and thats why it was included in my post above with every other toboggan listed in Australia still operating. Not sure when it changed from a more traditional toboggan to its current format though- I suspect it may have been sometime in the last decade. Happy for anyone to post more accurate info on this!

 

23 hours ago, Jamberoo Fan said:

Just to clarify, a DA was never submitted by Jamberoo for an alpine coaster. The alpine coaster's plans that I found just happened to be included in the original DA the park submitted for Velocity Falls & Koala Kove. It was randomly in a section about bushfires that I found it in. You probably also forgot the e-mail Jamberoo sent you confirming it was not in a DA.

Thanks for the links and yeah there was no forgetting- just to clarify the email stated that the Alpine Coaster was not part of any current or future development applications. This does not mean that it was not part of a DA previous to Velocity Falls and then withdrawn- this happens all the time. The fact that the park had detailed planning and obvious advanced stages for the attraction makes me believe that a DA must have been applied for at some stage. The park has obviously decided to prioritise on their slide attractions but did not rule out looking at this later down the line- if at all.