The Off Topic Topic

[iwerks]

You never know, some really cool entrepreneur could reinvent it for a new generation.. wait a second.

[Brad2912]

You mean a guy with a pipedream and a poorly created website, trying to get votes for his political career by playing off people's nostalgia & memories?

[Reanimated35]

What ever happened to that guy anyway?

[iwerks]

I'm sure he'd tell us given the opportunity. In 5,4,3,2,1..

[Reanimated35]

Looks like he didn't get voted in anyway and there hasn't been any word on the Wonderland project since. Gotta side with Brad on this one.

[iwerks]

He'll be back. And then there's that guy from Elysian World..

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Don't forget Habitat Waterford! (lol)

Ammar Khan is still around. I must say i've remained pretty skeptical over the whole process, but a simple man with a dream was Walt Disney. Ammar has a backing in real estate, and to even be on the ballot means he has a fair amount of support.

I admit the website and the concept art is dodgy as hell - but it still exists at www.sydneyswonderland.com.au - Ammar is also part of the Wonderland History facebook page, and he does come on to chat every now and then. Let's remember his ideas were only first mentioned a year or two ago. I remember WnWS plans on the board around 2009 - so a 4 year timeframe from first public mention to gates open (let's face it though - WnWS should have waited longer to open as they were not ready) so 5 years is reasonable - which means he's got a few years left before we all pour shit on the idea.

As I said earlier - i've been pretty skeptical over it - mainly because the talk is 'bringing wonderland back' which we all know it won't be. it will be a theme park, and it will be called wonderland. Like we all know - every theme park has to have a drop tower - so it'll have one of those, and they'll probably call it "probe to space" since they probably can't use the name space probe... but the similarities will taper off after similar ride names and similar themed areas. Good luck finding a Bayern Kurve for a new wizard's fury, or a new intamin double ferris for the zodiac as I sincerely doubt most of the original unique rides at the park would still be manufactured ( excepting wave swinger ) - can you imagine Vekoma headquarters when they received an order for a new boomerang? please.

However the one thing that keeps my mind from closing entirely on the idea is Bussy. Bussy knows Ammar, and has previously expressed a lot of faith in him to make this happen. For that reason alone - my mind remains open to see what he can do - but it won't be "rebuilding wonderland" - it will be "building a new park that perhaps loosely resembles some of the previous themes in the old park, and using similar names to capitalise on name recognition to bring people back".

The one reason Sydney's Wonderland still has traction after more than 18 months is it's name. If it were called Elysian World we'd have all forgotten about it by now.

[iwerks]

Well said Alex. It's funny how poor computer rendering can devalue a website. Maybe they would have been better off going with some traditional artwork. I think four years is a pretty quick timeframe. I would have said ten to twenty years. Keep in mind Disney first got his idea for Disneyland sometime in the 1930s and 40s, that and the fact that he's Disney (and even he struggled). It may end up looking like LPS nestled between a couple of shopping malls, but an amusement park is better than nothing at all.

[Brad2912]

In 20 years time I doubt there will be an undeveloped parcel of land capable or large enough to fit a theme park anywhere east of the blue mountains.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

^one only has to point to Valencia, California to know that they could build it in Lithgow or Bathurst and it would still work if done right.

[Brad2912]

Getting from LAX to Valencia is a hell of a difference to getting from Sydney airport to Lithgow...that's if we're talking interstate/international visitation. As for locals, hell most complaint having to travel 20mins to watch their footy team play. Anything further west than Penrith would fail abysmally.

[iwerks]

Adventure World was built on an old industrial estate. I'm sure someone in real estate would know how to find land to develop.

[XxMrYoshixX]

I remember first seeing WnWS concept art at about 2010?

It's gone quick.

Also I don't complain about driving over 20 minutes to go see the footy.

[Brad2912]

Thats great, but I'm not sure if your representative for the majority of theme park goers in NSW

[XxMrYoshixX]

Heck no. I'm just a regular guy.

[XxMrYoshixX]

Wonderland was the closest we got to a definitive theme park. At least during its first 6 years...

Taft did not sell the park to Paramount.

If it happened, Cedar Fair could have bought it later on along with the rest of the Paramount Parks, and we would have gotten something amazing recently like a B&M of some sort. It would have put the Gold Coast as a whole to shame.

But the opposite happened. The last "real" ride we ended up getting was Space Probe 9 years before it closed. Then Sunway took it two years later and milked it dry until there was nothing left.

Unfortunately I never experienced the park once... I never saw the park in real life.

Edited October 25, 2014 by XxMrYoshixX

[Brad2912]

Given you never attended and are relying on others accounts or photos/videos, I find it had to accept your saying it would put the GC parks to shame, because it would have a B&M. There is so much grey in that whole statement and a million different conotations to what COULD have happened.

[Tim Dasco]

Yeah everyone wants a B&M. We get it!

*F.Y.I people in WA dig deep and donate to telethon.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Yoshi - i'm confused - you never saw the park, but you have such strong opinions of when it was good and when it wasn't - ie: "first 6 years"

Space Probe wasn't the last attraction installed in the park, although it was the last good installation.

Paramount didn't wan't Wonderland - it was on the other side of the world. The takeoverbuyout was risky enough as it was there was no way they would want to take it on, despite taking on Canada's Wonderland... BUT - even if they did, nothing suggests that Cedar would also have taken the same view, and they may also have not wanted it for similar reasons.

It's like the whole sea world six flags Ohio debate - many people talk coulda, shoulda, woulda... but nobody knows what would have happened had things panned out differently. The park may have suffered just as badly by having owners based in the USA as it did having owners a puddle jump away in Malaysia.

[XxMrYoshixX]

I have done extensive research of the park for a while now, and made my opinion about it when I was finished.

And what I said about Space Probe being the last "real" ride means it was the last good one.

Edited October 26, 2014 by XxMrYoshixX

[pin142]

The opposite only happened because the owners saw more value in the land than in running a theme park. The park itself wasn't that bad. I wouldn't have mattered who took over ownership of the park if they didn't care about it as much as they did their other properties the same thing would have eventually happened, either a sale or closing the park and selling the land. Having a major US operator taking ownership of a park half way around the world would not have guaranteed major investments in the park or a park the same level as what its US counterparts are. If Six Flags or Cedar Fair were to take ownership of it there would have been a very good chance it would have been sold off when they went into bankruptcy unless on the off chance the park actually was a really strong performer.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I'm sorry Yoshi - but I don't think your research is going to cut it. It's like reading up on Ocean Park in Hong Kong and saying you know all about it, and how it's better now than it was 10 years ago - without ever setting foot in the park.

If you had been to the park even once, it might lend credence to your views, but I don't accept your 'first six years' statement. I visited the park on opening day. I went several times a year every year. I worked there. The first 15 years of the parks life was fantastic. It was only the last 4 where it really started to stagnate, and i'm sure most people could see the writing on the wall in the last two.

Since this is the off topic topic, and to avoid a double post - TPR have now posted some onride and offride POV of the Circus Circus El Loco in Las Vegas. I must say it looks like a great addition to the little park, but by comparison i'm very happy with Green Lantern.

http://youtu.be/n8ZDIF-Ni90

[Reanimated35]

Since this is the off topic topic, and to avoid a double post - TPR have now posted some onride and offride POV of the Circus Circus El Loco in Las Vegas. I must say it looks like a great addition to the little park, but by comparison i'm very happy with Green Lantern.

I think that looks pretty good. Doesn't sound like their chair audio works either though

[iwerks]

The Today Show was at Sea World, today. Apparently, they played that video of Karl freaking out on GL. Nice.

[downunder196]

Just curious, is anyone on here a member of the Australian Coaster Club?