Why don't attractions last in sydney?

[flicktroy]

Why don't things last in Sydney? I managed to see Fox Backlot & Wonderworld(6-7 years ago). Obviously at the end of their lives as there was more staff at Wonderworld than patrons. We missed Sega Mega World as it had just shut, and I was told by family that it was great. They have the most tourists in Australia and yet these attractions have all closed? Any speculations why?

[myk]

I think it may be because it is a known fact in Australia that the Gold Coast holds the monopoly on theme parks. Plus, Fox Studios has what, 3 rides? And Sega was basically a large Timezone. This is probably just one of the factors, I'm sure there are numerous others.

Edited April 9, 2007 by myk

[BNErider]

Well, The Gold Coast has sunny days, almost year-round. BTW, does anyone know of site(s) which have photos/maps of Fox Backlot?

[nev]

I hardly think people just sit back and say "theme parks belong on the gold coast so we won't build one in Sydney" Land values are infinitely higher in Sydney than anywhere else in the country. Even on the Wonderland site - an hour's drive out of Sydney - land prices have skyrocketed with the new M7 Motorway - arguably the main reason why Wonderland was sold off. The simple answer is there is no space for a large theme park. At the moment, the most vacant land, closest to the Sydney CBD is in the Norwest Business park which is a 40min drive from the Sydney CBD. There's no major public transport infrastructure there, so tourists getting there would be a similar exercise to Wonderland - a mix of buses and trains. Even then, the land in Norwest is expensive, surrounded by residential devlopments and not near any other major retail or consumer centres. On the Gold Coast, there's cheap land within 15mins of the city centre. Heck, even the land prices in the middle of Surfers Paradise aren't as expensive as many of Sydney's suburbs - let alone the city centre. Then you've got the problem of exactly who is going to build a park. It's more or less an accepted fact that Disney don't have a current interest in Australia, so that rules them out. Mac Leisure and WVTP have poured millions into the Gold Coast parks, which are accessible to all Sydneysiders for less than $100 in a one way plane flight. Investing in a Sydney park is only going to take part of their Gold Coast market away. Even the two closest Disney Parks in one country - the USA - are built on their equivalent of Sydney and Perth - about 5,000km away, and that's with a largely immobile population of 250 million, compared to our measley 20 million or so. So therefore any new themepark is probably going to have to come from a new player, and at the end of the day, there are far more profitable avenues in business to explore than a theme park in an area which has tremendous land costs, higher staffing costs and tax rates than any other state, and apart from any other factor, the fact that the city simply doesn't have the land close by. At the end of the day, there's nothing wrong with Sydney's weather or people, it's a few basic business rules and fundamental stumbling blocks that really are going to prohibit any major theme park development in Sydney. The only way we'll get a park is if a major international player decides to gamble a lot of money on a pretty insignificant city in a pretty insignificant part of the world in terms of global economic value.

[taronga]

Well, The Gold Coast has sunny days, almost year-round. BTW, does anyone know of site(s) which have photos/maps of Fox Backlot?

Here you go, two pics of Fox maps.

[BNErider]

Thanks For That. Wow, Fox studios were small! Movie World IS better.