Was sent some really concerning photos that seem to show pretty bad damage to the structure of the LPS Ferris Wheel. Knew it was undergoing some extensive repairs/maintenance but these photos seem to show some severe damage to the wheel frame.

Don't know what could have caused this but it's horrible to see obviously.

The place is in a very sorry state in recent years. It’s sad. After many years of improvements… Now: Faded paint, bored staff, poor operations, rides closed…. The mural on the back wall of Coney Island also totally disintegrated. It’s like nobody there seems to care any more, and it shows.

Those images make it seem like it’s being dismantled and isn’t returning (unless they’re installing a brand new one)

Just now, themagician said:

Those images make it seem like it’s being dismantled and isn’t returning (unless they’re installing a brand new one)

Probably should have been clearer or annotated the photos, it is a little hard to see what I'm referring to at first.

The wheel is being dismantled but if you look at the frame of the wheel closest to the bottom, you can see some pretty severe bending and warping of some of the structure

It's hard to miss once you see it, but since there's metal going everywhere it might be hard to see what I'm referring to.

I've done a quick annotation job here to point to some of the places that it's most obvious. It looks like one of the spokes of the wheel has been bent inwards, causing some severe bending and warping of the attached framework.

1 hour ago, jhunt2 said:

Probably should have been clearer or annotated the photos, it is a little hard to see what I'm referring to at first.

The wheel is being dismantled but if you look at the frame of the wheel closest to the bottom, you can see some pretty severe bending and warping of some of the structure

Oh I can see it, that’s why I think they’re getting rid of it!

It looks like they were dismantling it, but the top tension (the straps attached to the arm up in the air) at some point went slack, putting all the weight on the lower tension (seen in the load station) without the top tension, the wheel, missing over a quarter of its circumference, rotated, but the bottom tension didn't allow the lower arm to move, and the weight of the rest of the wheel caused it to buckle as the hub turned.

That Ferris wheel is pretty large and is 40+ years old while being exposed to sea air the whole time. The new owners of Luna Park have NFI how to run an amusement park (i no longer renew my annual pass because of how shit it's got) but its definitely at the age where you think about replacement.

Edited September 18Sep 18 by Baconjack

News snippet from Channel Seven’s 6pm bulletin, broadcast on Wednesday, 16 September 2026.

Management states that it will be back and is undergoing routine maintenance.

2 hours ago, TomiJ said:

Management states that it will be back and is undergoing routine maintenance.

I certainly believe the intention of the closure was maintenance. I don't believe that whatever caused that twisted metal was "routine", and the real reason I decided to post about it is because I also don't think it's something fixable on a 40-year-old Ferris Wheel made by a defunct company. That whole spoke of the wheel would need complete re-fabrication.

If there's been some mishap that has damaged the wheel, like what @DaptoFunlandGuy suggested, I doubt LPS would be going public with it - certainly not to 7 News. That broadcast sounds like a PR response to being asked questions about why the wheel has been pulled apart.

Ultimately, the way I see it is that it appears unlikely this particular Ferris Wheel is coming back from this. If the issues that the maintenance was addressing were fixable before, they've now got a bent, cracked and twisted frame to deal with as well. And as some have already mentioned, it's an old ride that has been sitting next to saltwater for 4 decades. This seems like new wheel territory.

The question is, with Hair Raiser also still seemingly just sitting there awaiting whatever maintenance it needs, is it within the park's budget or capability to buy a new Ferris Wheel right now? Judging by how some of their most popular rides have been sitting idle for months at a time, I'm going to wager the answer is no.

I don't think we need to go about binning an entire ride just because one main spar and maybe a few supports are buckled. This isn't like a rollercoaster where every piece of track is customised - the spars and supports are all standard pieces, and engineers have literally dozens of identical pieces from which to replicate parts from.

It appears as though the damage was accidental, and most likely this will be covered by insurance. It'll return, but if it's insurance it will take time to assess and payout the claim as well as identify a suitable company to provide the new parts.

One of the good things is, there is another identical wheel that travels (Skymaster Wheel) that I'm sure they could use as a reference to manufacture a replacement part / parts for the ride. It's a fairly simple design compared to say a roller-coaster with how it's built and operates. There is no reason as to why they can't / won't fabricate replacement parts for it. It may take some time yes, but it's certainly not going to be as difficult as you would think.

Obviously, as others have mentioned if it's due to an incident involving insurance that may cause delays but I'm sure they will want to have it operational by New Years as it's a major drawcard with the fireworks etc.